The Kuje Area Council in FCT has directed residents to use face mask as a preventive measure against Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the area.
The council said it would enforce the wearing of the mask as a critical public health measure to curb further spread of the disease.
Mr Sunday Zaka, the Chairman of Kuje Task Force on COVID-19 response, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Kuje.
“The wearing of face mask has now become compulsory in this area,” he said.
Zaka said all persons who venture out of their homes for whatever reason must wear face mask and observe social/physical distancing everywhere they go, both in markets and in vehicles.
“Based on the Federal Government directive to ease the lockdown, we must take preventive measures by using the face mask, hand sanitiser and washing of our hands all the time.
“The Area Council Task Force Team, led by myself, will so enforce every Okada rider, every passerby to use face mask because it is necessary and will make it compulsory for Kuje residents.
“Since there is ease in the lockdown, we must use such method to combat the pandemic,” Zaka said.
However, the chairman also warned against stigmatising persons that have tested positive for coronavirus, saying it will prevent people from willingly coming out to be tested of the virus.
He, therefore, appealed to the residents to take the lockdown order by the federal government and expert advice seriously, noting that the fight to beat the pandemic depended largely on obedience.
“My message to other people that have not heard is that we are using it as a compulsory method to stop the spread so as to be coronavirus free.
“That is why the Kuje area council Chairman has taken it upon himself and produced over 1,000 face masks and we distributed it to security agencies and other passersby.
“We urge every other persons in Kuje Area Council and Federal Capital Territory to emulate what the Chairman of Kuje Area Council have done and also urge the residents to keep strictly to the directive,” he said. (NAN)