The Lagos State Government asserted that it did not order a lockdown of the state to curtail the spread of coronavirus disease.

The state government, in a statement made available by its Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, noted that some news outlets had wrongly reported that Lagos State was on lockdown.

Omotoso noted that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had only ordered stringent measures to curb coronavirus community transmission and urged private sector to introduce similar measures that would help the government’s effort to succeed.

He said,

The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to news reports that Lagos is on lockdown following Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s update on the steps taken to curtail the spread of coronavirus.

The impression created by such reports is erroneous; Mr. Governor, who is the incident commander, only urged private sector establishments to introduce measures that will support the government’s efforts at curtailing the spread of COVID-19.

Governor Sanwo-Olu suggested that banks should enhance their online banking services to enable their customers have transactions without visiting banking halls and all markets that are not selling food, pharmaceutical products, water, medical equipment and other essential materials are to close down.

Workers providing essential services – fire service, emergency, health, water, telecommunication, security, media and others – are exempted from this directive and the initiatives being introduced by the government are to prevent any situation where more than 25 persons will gather in the same place at any time.

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.