Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has extended the lockdown imposed on the state to check the spread of COVID-19 by 30 days.
The decision was announced in a statement issued by Muyiwa Adekeye, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media & Communication on Sunday.
It stated that the lockdown was extended following a recommendation by the State Standing Committee on COVID-19, chaired by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe.
The statement said only Wednesdays will be lockdown-free until the trajectory of the virus becomes clearer.
“With Covid-19 cases rising rapidly in neighbouring states and the FCT, and with strong evidence of interstate travel being a major means of spreading the virus, the Standing Committee’s evaluation is that measures to protect Kaduna State residents require further strengthening and more vigorous enforcement.
“Malam Nasir El-Rufai has endorsed this evaluation and has accordingly reviewed the Quarantine Orders to strengthen the provisions against unauthorised movements. The two-day window during which the restriction of movement is relaxed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays has been reduced to only one day.
“All persons that venture out of their homes for whatever reason must wear facemasks and observe social distancing everywhere they go, in markets and in authorised vehicles. Government is making efforts to provide facemasks for poor and vulnerable residents, and it appeals to everyone that can afford it to get their tailors to make them cloth facemasks which they can wash after every use. The government also encourages tailors to produce facemasks for sale to those that are neither poor nor vulnerable,” the statement read in part.
The Quarantine Orders prescribe fines, imprisonment and forfeiture for violations of the provisions specified therein.
It added that anybody seeking to enter the state will be quarantined for 14 days in harsh conditions. It added that vehicles conveying people into the state will be seized and the operating company banished from the state even when the pandemic eases.
The state government also warned that religious institutions found flouting the directive will lose their ands to the government and the building demolished.
It also stated that “the less than 100, 000 persons who work for the Kaduna State Government as political appointees and public servants must contribute financially towards enabling the almost 10m persons living in the state to survive and thrive in this emergency period.”
It has directed all its senior appointees, including Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries, Special Advisers and Heads of Agencies to each donate N500,000 in April 2020. In subsequent months, they will donate 50% of their salaries until the quarantine ends. Other categories of political appointees will also be making monthly donations to support the provision of relief to the low income, poor and vulnerable residents of the state.
Career public servants earning a net pay of N67,000 and above after tax will also donate 25% of their pay monthly whilst the quarantine conditions are in place.
