The Federal Government has warned Nigerians to prepare for tougher measures, in a move to properly response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, relayed this at a press briefing in Abuja, on Monday, March 23rd, 2020.

He said the government would not hesitate to call in the police and the military for contact tracing, in situations where persons suspected to have contacted coronavirus do not voluntarily show up for testing.

He said,

We should be ready for tougher measures. The forms they will take will be out from the end of today or tomorrow. But Nigerians should be ready for tougher measures.

If we don’t do proper contact tracing, the figure will multiply every five days. Nigerians must take ownership of this initiative.

We won’t hesitate to use whatever measure to ensure that we do not endanger other Nigerians. Containment is very cheaper than cure.

A few people have helped. If you know you travelled recently, give yourself up to relevant agencies.

If the situation warrants, we may be forced to use the police and the military for contact tracing. The police are already working on that. We don’t want the figure we have now to multiply. We should work towards containment which is cheaper.

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.