Shop owners in Kaduna metropolis have complied with Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s directive that only those selling food and medicines should open their shops to the general public.
Few shop owners that ignored the state government’s directive were seen being forced by security agents to ensure the closure of their shops till further notice as one of the steps taken by the government to curb the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai had in a broadcast to the state on Monday expressed his disappointment on the level of complacency by residents for ignoring the earlier restriction directives.
El-Rufai stressed that measures taken to protect residents from Covid-19 will be vigorously enforced by security agencies and the Kaduna Markets Development and Management Company which will also ensure that all markets are fumigated.
Governor El-Rufai further assured, “The Kaduna State government has decided to move from advice to actual enforcement of its restrictions on large gatherings, especially in Churches and Mosques. Security agencies have been directed to ensure compliance across the state. These agencies will also enforce compliance with the decision to close all schools, whether public or private, religious or secular, Islamiya or run by Christian missions.”
Most of the residents in Kaduna who spoke to DAILY POST hailed the proactive steps taken by the state government in ensuring full restriction of people’s movement and gatherings as a major step taken to curtail the spread of Coronavirus pandemic in the state.
Mr James Adamu, said, “What we are seeing taking place in Kaduna State should have been the steps taken by the federal government early enough which would have gone a long way to curtail the present alarming rate of those identified to have been positive with the virus.
“We always take things in this country for granted and that is why we keep on suffering on certain issues that ought not to be serious problems. I therefore support the proactive efforts of governor Nasir El-Rufai and l call on the good people of the state to also give him the maximum support to be able to control the pandemic in the state.”
Another resident, Sule Shauibu added, “l am advising that those who ignored the government directive should be dealt with accordingly. We need to take things seriously in order to save ourselves from the calamities of the Coronavirus pandemic because as it is, nobody knows what will happen in the near future, so, earlier the better for us to adopt policies that will be in our interest.
“Nobody should attach any religious, tribal or sectional colouration to the action of the state government, but we should all see it as a collective effort to save ourselves from unknown consequences of Coronavirus pandemic.”
He called on the residents of the State to bear with the situation and support the decision of the state government towards finding a lasting solution to the problem. “It is only when one is alive and healthy that one will think of what to do,” he added.
He lamented, “What we are hearing that the federal government has finally ordered for the closure of all entries to the country ought to have been done earlier than now. That decision would have gone a long way to reduce the number of those infected by the virus but because of the type of leadership we have, they were not serious from the onset and that is why the number of those infected with the virus has risen to what we have today.”
