The Presidential Task Force on the Control of COVID-19 Sunday briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the situation of Coronavirus in the country.Addressing State House correspondents after briefing the president, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the Presidential Task Force , Mr Boss Mustapha, said the president has the final decision that would ensure Cross River and Kogi states do not become an island in the fight to flatten COVID-19.
“We discussed challenges generally and I believe that in the context of those discussions, certain steps will be taken. We are doing everything to ensure that the entire nation is on the same page with one response and it is very important that we realise that no state is an island unto itself, when you deal with public health matters.
“Whatever happens in a particular locality has the consequences of spilling off to other constituencies. That is the message that we’ll continue to drive in our pursuit of getting everybody to be on board and I can assure you that there’s no island that exists as far as COVID-19 is concerned in this country.
“We must integrate all the responses from the different segments of the community and the state and have everybody to be on the same page. We will continue to pursue that and we must also ensure that it happens. I can assure about that,” he said.
He said the Presidential Task Force submitted the fourth interim report to the president on the progress that has been achieved in the course of the last two weeks of the extension of the eased phase one of the lockdown.
He said the committee also discussed some of the challenges that they had and suggested what needed to put in place going forward.
The SGF said the president commended the PTF and assured them that the nation is fully behind them in the work that he has charged them to do.
“He’s also appreciative of the work of the frontline workers, particularly the medical personnel, the security personnel and the people who come in contact with the patients in the time of collection of samples, the testings, the care that they are giving.
“We also discussed the issue of compliance and he said we should continue to appeal to Nigerians and drive home the point that it’s a personal responsibility for each and every Nigerian to undertake to ensure that he keeps himself safe and by extension keeping his family, loved ones and community safe.
“We will continue to drive that message. It’s a message of persuasion, it’s a message that should make people take personal responsibility for their own protection and health and we will not relent on that.
“That’s part of what we have considered in its totality. We’d await Mr President’s on that, once I receive his approval, going forward, to certain recommendations we have put in place, we will know what happens. The issue of easing up, you know we are in the first phase, we had an extension of two weeks for the first phase,” he said.
The SGF, was accompanied to the Presidential Villa by the Minister of Interior, Mr Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehinare; Director General of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu; and the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on Control of COVID-19, Dr Aliyu Sani.