FG To Impose Precision Lockdown On 11 Lagos LGAs, 9 Others

By Adekunle Badmus

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 on Monday announced the federal government’s plan to impose what it described as the precision lockdown on 11 local government councils in Lagos State to curb the spike in COVID-19 infections in the areas.

The PTF also announced that the 11 Lagos councils are part of the 18 endemic others across the Federation that account for 60 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the country.

The PTF made the announcement through its chairman and Secretary to the Federal Government, Boss Mustapha, however, said the state government and local authorities where the councils are located, will administer the lockdown.

The councils affected in Lagos based on figures from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) include:

Mainland (1,274)
Mushin (458)
Eti-Osa (403)
Alimosho (239)
Kosofe (175)
Ikeja (168)
Oshodi/Isolo (132)
Apapa (131)
Lagos Island (111)
Amuwo Odofin (129)
Surulere (110)
Outside Lagos, the other councils are:

· Abuja Municipal (536)

· Tarauni (248)

· Katsina (242)

· Maiduguri (167)

· Dutse (170)

· Nassarawa (152)

· Oredo (126)

· Bauchi (114) and

· Ado Odo/Ota (107).

Mustapha who spoke at a news conference after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari at the end of the four-week gradual easing of lockdown said: “For the precision lockdown, we have identified 18 local governments out of the 774 local government that are considered to be high burden with this infection and they account for 60 per cent of 24,077 infections.

“The reason for the precision lockdown is to place specific measures that will be administered by state governments and local authorities. It is not for the federal government, it’s the responsibilities of states and local authorities.”

Mustapha was accompanied to brief the President by Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Coordinator of the PTF Dr Sani Aliyu and Director General of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu.

Giving more explanation on the precision lockdown, Dr Sani said: “Some of these local government areas have issues to do with their location and the fact that they do not have defined borders. We will be sending out clarification as soon as we finish this piece of work.

“The restrictions of movement in these local government areas are only one of several interventions we are putting in place in terms of the hotspots.

“There will be precision targeting in these areas not only to increase testing but also to improve isolation, to make sure that we do a lot of risk communication and public awareness activities.

“So, cessation of movement is only part of it. And in some of the local governments, it may be impracticable to do so. We already know some local government where it may be impossible to do this.

“Overall, what we are trying to do is to put out the small fires across the country rather than trying to fight raging fire across the whole country which will be very difficult and will also be draining economically for us,” he added.

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