The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has ordered the closure of all markets that are not selling essential commodities like medical supplies, foodstuffs, water, amongst other things.

Our reporters gathered that the closure, which is effective from Thursday, March 26th, 2020, is connected to governments efforts to eradicate community transmission of coronavirus disease, otherwise known as COVID-19.

As at 06:25 pm on March 24th, 2020, there are forty four (44) confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria. Lagos State tops the list of infections by state: twenty nine cases have been confirmed in Lagos.

In a live press briefing on Tuesday, March 24th, 2020, Sanwo-Olu said,

All open markets and stores except for sellers of food and medicines, medical equipment and other essential life-saving products are directed to close from Thursday 26th, 2020 for the next seven days.

It is not a total lockdown, we still want people on essential services to go about their normal activities.

We are trying to de-centralise markets in Lagos. This is why we want to use some of our closed schools as markets, so people can buy food and medicine without going a long distance.

It is only when you are alive that you can talk about economics and finance.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.