By Ademola Akanni, Abuja
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Muhammadu Musa Bello, has vowed to arrest and prosecute defaulters of the lockdown order in the FCT, The Gazelle News.com reports.
The Minister made this vow on Monday, 30 March, 2020, after an emergency security meeting organised to discuss the modalities for the enforcement of the lockdown order in the FCT for the next 14 days.
Mallam Bello vowed to ensure that the lockdown order is implemented to the letter in the FCT.
In the late briefing after the emergency meeting which was attended by the heads of the various military formations, paramilitary agencies and senior administrative staff of the FCTA, the Minister, said that, “all organs of the FCT security services and other government agencies have agreed and worked out modalities to ensure that all entry and exit points of the FCT and by extension, other satellite towns, are manned by relevant officials to ensure that everybody stays home”.
He reiterated that the best way to overcome the disease is by being disciplined and following all the prescribed measures by the health authorities.
These, according to him, include: staying indoors and staying healthy at all times vowing that those who default on the lockdown order would be dealt with in accordance with the dictates of the law which include arrest and prosecution.
In his words, “I want to also reiterate that except those that have been allowed and are exempted from this cessation of movement, all other citizens and residents of the FCT are enjoined to stay indoors. Where these regulations are flouted, I want to emphasize that the security agencies have been empowered to arrest and prosecute defaulters because we will not allow any individual or groups, as a result of their inability to honour this medical advice, jeopardize the health of multiples. The global community has discovered that one of the greatest weapons to fight this disease is confinement and containment in one place. That way, contact tracing becomes much easier and those that are infected are easily provided medical services”.
On the palliative measures being put in place to cushion the effect of the lockdown on the more vulnerable members of the society, the Minister said that the FCT Palliative Committee has been put in place.
Headed by the Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, she would be supported by the Chairman of the six Area Councils, traditional and religious authorities, NGOs and other support groups.
The Minister also said that the FCT already had modalities in place to identify the truly indigent members of society that will require assistance.
According to him, “the system of identifying vulnerable people within the FCT community is already in place, using the 60-ward structure of INEC, as well as the traditional and religious authorities. Within every community, those that are vulnerable are known and also, under our Social Development Secretariat, we already have a database of vulnerable people that have been taken care of under the conditional cash transfer”.
The FCTA, the Minister continued, will also tap into the data base of religious groups that already have records of the indigent in their various communities whom they have been assisting even prior to the current outbreak of Covid 19.
Malam Bello once more reminded the residents of the FCT of their individual and collective responsibilities in fighting the disease.
Quoting President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Bello said, “as individuals, we remain the greatest weapon in fighting COVID 19. So, I’m appealing to all residents of the FCT to stay indoors and abide by all the regulations of the health and security authorities”.
Malam Bello also revealed that he was tested for COVID 19 and his results came out as negative.
Copyright: The Gazelle News.com
