COVID-19: CLEEN foundation calls for more testing centers, provision of PPEs for security agents

CLEEN foundation has called for the establishment of more testing centres across the country and also provision of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) to security agents .

The foundation also called on Federal Government and the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) should work towards activating more testing centers across Nigeria and embark on aggressive testing of citizens, intensify COVID-19 awareness in local communities by sensitizing the people about the seriousness of the virus and the danger of shielding infected persons. 

The Executive Director of the Foundation , Dr Benson Olugbuo in a press statement issued in Abuja said the Presidential Task Force should prioritise the provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for security agents as promised by the President during the recent national broadcast.

He said the Federal government and the Kano State government must investigate the recent reports of deaths of persons recorded within a short period in Kano state. 

He further said the Federal government should increase its surveillance in Kano state and strengthen the state’s COVID-19 response system in the areas of capacity building and supply of testing kits.

According to him, Federal and Governments should prioritize the distribution of facemasks as a first line of defense against the COVID-19.

He said the imbalance in the distribution of palliatives across the country should be addressed. Hunger and starvation have become an existential issue during the restriction of movement.

On the stay at home order, he urged government’s stay-at-home order remains on low/moderate compliance in general. Majority of our observers (69%) across the country noted that most Nigerians were seen moving around and carrying out their various activities in different parts of the country.

“Between 35% and 34% respectively of our observers noted there were moderate and low public compliance to government’s stay-at-home order while 14%, 10% and 7% reported no compliance, total compliance and not applicable respectively.

“However, there was improved public compliance to government’s stay-at- home order last week when compared with the findings two weeks ago. This can be attributed to the increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, deaths and spread to other states in Nigeria. 

“In Nasarawa State, our volunteers observed that residents were seen going about their daily movements with little or no compliance to the state government’s stay home directives.

“Markets and motor parks were reported to be very functional and intrastate movements continued without precautionary measures observed.

“However in Oguta LGA, residents observed the sit-at-home directives. In Enugu State, we observed minimal compliance by the citizens. In Abia State, the citizens defied the government’s directive on compulsory wearing of face masks. 

“In Anambra state, our volunteers observed that some commercial bus and tricycle drivers were seen violating government directives on the use of face masks and approved number of passengers. 

On Ban on Public Gatherings and citizens compliance, he observed that the compliance to government’s ban on public gathering shows a total to moderate compliance level by the public as 60% of our observers indicated total/moderate compliance, 33% indicated low/no compliance while 7% indicated that the ban on public gathering is not applicable in their states. 

“Similarly, when compared with the previous findings in the last two weeks, there is a gradual improvement in compliance rate as we have 60% compliance against 58% total/moderate compliance. 

“This can be attributed to increased spread across the states with more states adopting measures to curb the spread of the global pandemic. Our volunteers observed that despite the ban on large gatherings, some churches and mosques in Oyo state were not complying with the directives as large crowds were seen across the state.

“ In Sokoto State, there is a ban on public gathering of persons in excess of 20 in the state, however, Jumat prayers were held with large crowds in parts of the state. In Edo state, it was observed that in Etsako East Local Government, some churches organized programmes with sizeable gatherings. 

“At Umuelendu village and around the Seven-Up market junction, Obingwa, LGA, Abia State, some people were seen moving from or to church gatherings, while others were seen very close to food and provision stalls around the neigbourhood,” he said .

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