The Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, on Sunday, March 29th, 2020, ordered a 14-day total lockdown of the state and also imposed 12-hour dusk-to-dawn curfew, which will take effect on Monday, March 30th at midnight.

He made this announcement in a statewide live broadcast in the morning on Sunday.

Fayemi said this was to curtail the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Ekiti State.

He said,

It is in urgent public interest that we must ensure strict compliance with all directives given to prevent community spreading of the disease.

Therefore, in our collective interest and to further ensure the safety of Ekiti-kete, having declared Coronavirus an infectious disease in Ekiti State, I hereby, in pursuant to Section 8 of the Quarantine Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) impose a curfew of movement in Ekiti State.

The purpose of this curfew is to impose restrictions on the movement of persons and goods within Ekiti State for an initial period of fourteen days. This is in order to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in Ekiti State.

The governor also closed all borders, advising Nigerians to remain in their state of residence throughout the shutdown.

All boundaries of Ekiti State are closed during this period, except for transportation of fuel, food and drugs and other essential goods.

All non-residents who arrive the State prior to, or after, the imposition of this restriction, and who remain in the State, must remain in their place of temporary residence in the State for the duration of the 14 days, as the case may be, and may be subjected to screening for COVID-19 and be quarantined or isolated if necessary,

he added.

He further said that he was disappointed with the lukewarm, nonchalant and downright defiance of some of the state’s residents in complying with the preventive actions to protect themselves from infection and eradicate the community transmission of the deadly virus.

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.