COVID-19 CURFEW: Stop harassing journalists, essential workers, Nigerian govt tells security agents

The Federal Government has warned security agencies to stop harassing journalists and other essential duty workers as they enforce the COVID-19 curfew imposed by President Muhammadu Buhari on the country, in a bid to curb the spread of the dreaded virus in the country.

According to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who handed down the warning on Wednesday during a press briefing organised by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, journalists and essential services workers belong to the class of those exempted from the curfew imposed on the country.

SGF said: “On whether journalists and vendors are not considered as essential services, I believe that they are because whatever we do here, if you do not report it, then the news item will not get out there; adverts we carried on newspapers, radio and televisions that are supposed to enhance and equip our people with knowledge and information so that they can make informed decisions would not go out there.

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“So, I believe that anything related to the press is considered essential services for the purpose of allowing you free passage. We will look at the issue that happened in Lagos because if we expect the networks to remain in operation throughout the night, then when it comes to movement, our security agencies should be adaptive enough to know that these people are coming from their places of work and grant them access to get home.”

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