Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr Boss Mustapha said the demise of the Chief of Staff to the President Mr Abba Kyari is a proof to Nigerians that COVID-19 is real and it is a matter of life and death.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the SGF said doubters should now know that the disease os real and deadly.
He said Nigerians must to take the matter seriously and adhere strictly to the advice of health authorities on how to prevent the spread of the disease.
“There are very big lessons to learn from the death of Abba Kyari. One of the key lessons for me is that this thing is real and it has come home. How closer can it be to us than this? That is why I keep saying that we should not play with this issue it is not a joke.
“It has come to ravage our people, ravage our health and ravage our wealth as a nation so we must take it more seriously and the advisory that have gone out about social distancing, washing of hands and staying at home are not punitive, they are meant for our good.
“We have seen it now, that it has come home to us. If we were thinking of people who had passed on as a result of COVID-19 from a distance, it is not far now. It is just like a brother or friend or a relative that has passed on.
“This is a man we worked with on a daily basis, you see him virtually every day so it’s a big lesson that our people should not joke with this, we must wash our hands, stay at home, use sanitizers and follow all the advisories religiously,” he said.
He said although the disease is imported, Nigeria would deal with it decisively because President Muhammadu Buhari has put in please measures for doing so.
