Stop playing politics with COVID-19, FG tells governors

The Federal Government on Friday appealed to state governors to stop playing politics with directives issued in order in order to contain the COVID-19 disease pandemic and curb its continuous spread across the country.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the call when he featured on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) programme, Good Morning Nigeria.

Mohammed, a member of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, was shedding light on the efforts of the taskforce at containing the pandemic.

He also underscored the need for continued engagements with states and harmonisation of directives, adding that the kind of rifts and counter directives between some states and the federal government in the efforts to contain covid-19 were uncalled for and unnecessary.

Responding to a question on the controversy over the chopper that flew into Rivers State and the arrest of the pilots, Mohammed said such rift was uncalled for and people should stop politicising covid-19 fight.

“The federal government has responsibility to all Nigerians irrespective of the state they reside.

“A situation where the federal government needs exemption for certain category of people but the state government will not cooperate is not helpful.

“We will not succeed if there is no cooperation with the state governments,” he said.

Speaking of on some states that have relaxed the stay at home order for Jumat and Easter celebrations, Mohammed insisted that here was the need for harmonisation of the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari for lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun states.

“We have a very little window, and as of today, there is no known cure or vaccine for this disease all we have is Non Medicinal Intervention basically on prevention and management.

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“We need the cooperation of the populace as a whole and they need to listen to what the federal government is saying.

“The whole essence of the lockdown is that by the time we lockdown for 14 days it is a presumption that whoever is incubating the virus must have manifested.

“However, people can contact the disease by not staying at home or not adhering to the hygiene instructions like washing of hands regularly, using hand sanitiser and social distancing,” he said.

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