Nigeria extended a lockdown in the country’s two main cities, Lagos and Abuja, by at least two weeks.
President Muhammadu Buhari renewed restrictions on the movement of people and operations of businesses in a speech on state television Monday evening just hours before the measures, imposed for an initial 14 days, were set to expire. The first country in sub-Saharan Africa to identify a person who tested positive for the illness, Nigeria now has 343 confirmed cases – more than 70% of them in Lagos and Abuja.
“It has become necessary to extend the current restriction of movement for another 14 days,” Buhari said, prolonging the measures in the two cities as well as Ogun state, which neighbors Lagos.
Lagos, Africa’s largest city, is a sprawling metropolis of around 20 million people, most of which live in cramped conditions where social distancing is difficult. Abuja, the capital, is home to several million more.
A large proportion of new infections are now occurring in communities, through person-to-person contacts, Buhari said.
“I am fully aware of the great difficulties experienced especially by those who earn a daily wage such as traders, day-workers, artisans and manual workers. Despite these realities we must not change the restrictions,” he said.
The Nigeria Police is deploying more personnel to Lagos and Ogun states to quell increased criminal activities linked to the lockdown, its police chief said by email. Africa’s most populous country also has the highest number of people globally living in extreme poverty.
Nigeria has already closed its borders and shut its international airports, while most domestic carriers have grounded their fleets. In addition to Buhari’s targeted directives, some of Nigeria’s 36 state governors have introduced their own restrictions in the territories they control.
By William Clowes,
Yahoo News