By Joe Adedeji, Ilorin
The globally raging Corona Virus as it affects Nigeria may now be treated as a national security issue which requires the understanding and support of the citizens to get rid of.
Kwara State Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq made this assertion while fielding questions from journalists in Ilorin after inspecting an Isolation Centre established at Sobi Specialist Hospital by his government.
He hinted that aside steps taken already by the government, more sweeping measures to curtail the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state and nationwide, might soon be put in place.
The governor said though Kwara currently has no confirmed case of Covid-19, his government had set up “various preventive and safety mechanisms, including establishing and equipping an isolation centre”. .
“We will be announcing further measures this week in containing the spread of the virus. We also expect the federal government to come up with further measures.
“This may entail further restrictions on the movement of people in the interest of public health and security. It is a national security situation now which everybody should understand,”
“Civil servants will sit at home; their children will be at home. Please take care of your kids; don’t roam about. This is also the time to clear your environment and ensure that your community is clean”, the governor added.
He disclosed that the newly created isolation centre would be extended in the coming weeks to accommodate about 100 patients at a go while the state would work with Abuja on the ongoing efforts to establish zonal test centres with the capacity to screen blood samples for COVID-19.
Also, he said that “at the last National Economic Council meeting in Abuja, state governors proposed that each state should have one laboratory to test samples of patients for any outbreak of diseases”
However, AbdulRazaq said there were challenges with resources which prompted the idea of suggesting having zonal centres before state centres.
“It is not just (about) doing an ordinary blood test. Yes you can have the equipment but the reagents are not easy to come by. They are very expensive. So, we are waiting for the Federal Ministry of Health to see what they can accommodate.
“Right now we send blood samples to Lagos. We are hoping that capacity will be built by the federal government so that we can first have zonal centres before we have state centres which will surely come,” he concluded.