By Harry Awurumibe, Head, Abuja Bureau
Long queues at banks, filling stations, shopping malls and food markets characterized the day in Abuja this Monday as residents make the last-minute household purchases ahead of the total lockdown of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by 11 pm tonight.
The Federal Government had through last night’s national broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari announced that the FCT and two states of Lagos and Ogun are to go into complete lockdown with the movement of the citizens and foreigners restricted for 14 days as part of the multi-strategy to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.
The President has also directed all relevant agencies to work together to enforce the complete lockdown order, adding that the residents of the affected states and FCT should obey and stay in their homes.
For this reason, residents of Abuja hit the streets very early today to buy mostly household needs including refilling the cooking gas which can last for two weeks for them.
Prompt News investigations showed that shoppers invaded the major supermarkets, malls and food markets in the city that are still open to making last-minute purchases with its attendant hike in prices and long queues.
Also, long queues can be seen at various bank branches across the city as customers were seen in long queues waiting to either withdraw money with a counter cheque or from the Automated Teller Machine (ATM). Most of the filling stations especially those in Central Business District (CBD) of the FCT recorded long queues with the NNPC mega station which is located at Wuse and Shema filling station on the Airport Road by Galadimawa witnessed long queues throughout the day.
The enthusiasm with which Abuja residents are stockpiling food items showed that the lockdown of the city for two weeks will be obeyed to the later.
