26th March, 2020
By Michael Adeshina
The Federal Government of Nigeria, on Thursday, announced plans to ban inter-state travel and possibly close down all motor parks as part of measures to curtail the spread of Coronavirus.
Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, disclosed the plans at a press conference in Abuja.
Mohammed said the these are possible measures that might be required to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“Possible measures include; Stopping inter-state/inter-town travel, except for essential services.
“Closing all motor parks and inter-state rail stations. Already, all train movements nationwide have been stopped. Using fire fighting and other adaptable vehicles and personnel to fumigate cities and towns,” Lai Mohammed said.
However, as at 2:00 pm on Thursday, Nigeria has 51 cases of coronavirus.
Lagos is the worst hit among other Nigerian states by the global pandemic with 32 cases according to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) but two of the patients in Lagos have been discharged after full recovery.
Abuja has 10 cases. Ogun State has three cases. Ekiti, Oyo, Edo, Bauchi, Osun and Rivers State have one case each.
To prevent further spread of the virus, the federal government and state governments had barred gathering of not less than 20 people and advocated for social distancing.
All international flights and train passenger services have also been shut.