COVID-19: Okei-Odumakin queries Nigeria’s lockdown policy

Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, President, Centre for Change, has queried the efficacy of the lockdown policy implemented by the Nigerian government with the aim to curtail the spread of Coronavirus.

The group president also described the various reckless infractions of lockdown by the authorities as embarrassing.

She, however, urged the Federal Government to be innovative and take proactive measures to stem community transmission as Nigeria crosses 1000 cases of COVID-19.

Okei-Odumakin made the call in a statement on Saturday in Lagos.

She said that crossing the 1000 threshold raised the specter of community transmission.

“This calls to question the efficacy or otherwise of the lockdown policy of the federal and state governments.

“The haphazard and disjointed manner the federal and state governments have implemented and or violated lockdown will now have to come under scrutiny,” she said.

She said it was embarrassing the way some governmental, non-governmental persons and organisations breached social distancing while distributing palliatives.

“With a restive population agitating for the suspension of lockdown to stem widespread hunger and sharp rise in criminal activities.

“The figures point in the direction that community transmission is on the rise and it is evident enough that we are not yet out of the woods.

“And maybe not very soon!

“Innovative and proactive measures by government and the buy-in of the generality of the Nigerian people will be needed to defeat COVID-19,” she said

Okei-Odumakin urged federal government to quickly find an effective vaccine against the virus.

“In the final analysis, quickly finding an effective vaccine against the virus from the rash and rush of researches all over the world may become the saving grace of a flustered world at its wit’s end.

“And soonest, too, before matters get out of hand,” she said

NCDC uncovered a total of 114 new COVID-19 cases countrywide on Friday, making a total of 1095 confirmed cases of infected persons.

The number of those successfully treated and discharged stood at 208 while the dead stood at 32.