The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has said the introduction of another total lockdown in parts of the country would be counterproductive.

The PUNCH reports that confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria spilled over 4,000 on Saturday night, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

A cumulative half of these infections were recorded in Lagos and Ogun States as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The three places entered a new phase on Monday, May 4, after a five-week total lockdown ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari, as part of efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 subsequently issued guidelines on the phased easing of the lockdown in the three places but compliance on the part of Nigerians has been poor in the last one week.

On Saturday, May 9th, 2020 Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said his government was unsatisfied with the level of compliance by Lagosians with the rules guiding the eased lockdown in the country’s economic capital.

If we do not see an improvement in the next couple of days, we would be forced to evoke the very painful decision of bringing the entire system under a lockdown again,

he submitted.

However, commenting on Sunday, May 10th, 2020 via his Twitter handle, Keyamo said another total lockdown is unnecessary as Nigerians must learn to live with coronavirus and practice the guidelines including observing social distancing, avoiding crowded places, use of face masks in public, regular hygiene, amongst other.

The following is his tweet:

My personal view is that another total lockdown would be counterproductive. Before defeating the virus, we must learn to live with it all around us & practice the skills of avoiding it like a landmine. Practice makes perfect. We cannot perfect those skills by locking ourselves up.

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.