The federal government says it has not taken a decision on the request made by the 36 state governors for an extension of the lockdown over the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, stated this on Thursday during the presidential taskforce briefing on COVID-19 in Abua.
President Muhammadu Buhari had extended the initial two-week lockdown declared on March 30 by an additional two weeks.
The governors of the 36 states of the federation rose on Wednesday from a virtual meeting with a unanimous decision to ban interstate movements of people for 14 days, following the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the last few days, which currently stands at 873 confirmed cases of the virus in the country.
The governors, in a communique after the meeting, said a restriction on interstate movements for two weeks was imperative to mitigate the spread of the virus from state to state.
But responding to a question on the request by the governors, Mustapha, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) said:
“That’s a proposal coming from the governors and it was a decision they took. That is their proposal. The Federal Government is yet to take any decision on the extension of the lockdown”
He said the PTF would meet and take a holistic look at all the proposals that were coming to it and take a decision on the next line of action.
He added “This will not be taken in isolation. So I want to assure you that we’re working in synergy, collaboratively with the state governments and some national entities, and by the time we’re through with this phase, going into the third phase, it will be a more collaborative decision that would have taken into consideration the inputs and interests from different segments of our society.”
