By Daniel Tyokua
The minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has identified discipline by all the residents as one of the measures to overcome coronavirus pandemic in the territory.
He said obeying the stay-at home order by the government was not to subject anyone to pains, but to prevent people from coming in contact with the virus.
Bello stated this after an emergency meeting with FCT officials and security personnel on how best president Muhammadu Buhari’s lockdown order of 14 days would be obeyed.
He reiterated that the best way of overcoming the disease is by being careful and following all the prescribed measures by the health authorities which includes staying indoors with the exception of those legally permitted to move around.
In his words “I want to also reiterate that except those that have been allowed and are exempted from this cessation of movement, all other citizens and residents of the FCT are enjoined to stay indoors.
“Where these regulations are flouted, I want to emphasize that the security agencies have been empowered to arrest and prosecute defaulters because we will not allow any individual or groups, as a result of their inability to honour this medical advice, jeopardize the health of multiples because as has been shown the world over, one of the greatest weapons to fight this disease is confinement and containment in one place. That way, contact tracing becomes much easier and those that are infected are easily provided medical services”
On the palliative measures being put in place to cushion the effect of the cessation of movement on the more vulnerable members of the society, the Minister said that the FCT Palliative Committee is headed by the Hon. Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu and will be supported by the Chairman of the six Area Councils, traditional and religious authorities, NGOs and other support groups.
The Minister also said that the FCT already had modalities in place to identify the truly indigent members of society that will require assistance.
According to him “the system of identifying vulnerable people within the FCT community is already in place, using the 60-ward structure of INEC, as well as the traditional and religious authorities. Within every community, those that are vulnerable are known and also, under our Social Development Secretariat, we already have a database of vulnerable people that have been taken care of under the conditional cash transfer”.
The Minister explained that, his administration will also tap into the data base of religious groups that already have records of the indigent in their various communities whom they have been assisting even prior to the current outbreak of Covid 19.
Bello once more reminded the residents of the FCT of their individual and collective responsibilities in fighting the disease. Quoting President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Bello said ‘as individuals, we remain the greatest weapon in fighting COVID 19. So, I’m appealing to all residents of the FCT to stay indoors and abide by all the regulations of the health and security authorities.
