Gyang Bere, Jos, Desmond Mgboh, Kano

Plateau State Governor Simon  Lalong has ordered the closure of all markets, street trading, street hawking, and prohibited begging as parts of precautionary measures to halt the spread of Coronavirus  in the state.

Lalong,  had earlier banned anniversaries, cultural festivals and directed that all funerals, weddings and other social events should have only family members and relations not exceeding 50 people in attendance.

He had ordered the closure of all schools from pre-primary to tertiary level in the state from  last Saturday.

The governor  stated this yesterday during a state broadcast to the citizens of Plateau State on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country.

He noted that recurrent expenditure other than salaries and pensions will be cut by 40 percent; and all allowances of political office holders are hereby slashed by 50 percent.

“With effect from Wednesday 25th March 2020, all public servants in Plateau State from grade levels 12 and below are to work from home for the next 30 days.

“Only workers offering essential services such as security, health, media, street cleaners and water supply and energy are exempted from this directive.In view of the crowds associated with markets, government is directing all markets to close effective 25th March 2020. Only traders selling food items, pharmaceuticals and cooking gas are to remain open.

“All street trading, street hawking, and begging are prohibited.

The weekly Sunday markets at Ahmadu Bello Way, Bukuru and environs are hereby banned. Social joints, Nightclubs, drinking parlours are to also close effective Wednesday 25th March 2020, while restaurants are advised to prepare take away for their customers to avoid crowding.”

He viewed with dismay non-compliance to the outright suspension of anniversaries and cultural festivals as well as inability of some schools to close as directed as an attempt to test the will of government and endanger public safety and risk the lives of innocent citizens.

The governor directed motor parks to capture and keep  data including contacts of all inbound and outbound passengers as well as adhere strictly to social distancing and mass gathering prohibition order.

Meanwhile, Kano State  Government has directed its workers to stay at home for 14 days starting from today.

The government said this  was part of efforts to safeguard the lives of the people of the state as well as prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

A statement by the Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba said that it was part of the outcome of the special session of the council meeting.

The statement, however, said that essential service workers to be identified by the  government are exempted from the stay at home order.

The statement explained that the council approved the measures to prevent and contain the spread of the virus through contacts at government offices across the state.

While admitting that the state was yet to record a single case of the deadly virus,the government however issued a ban on the inflow of large capacity buses into the state.

The government said that it took the decision bearing in mind the mode of operations of these buses which involved stuffing of passengers together in the most disorderly sitting arrangement.

The government assured that it was working tirelessly to ensure the virus did not find its way to the state while assuring that it was prepared to control and manage the situation if it eventually did.

The  government urged residents to ensure adherence to health instructions released by the Federal and the state’s Ministry of Health on how to prevent the disease.