By Beauty John, LAFIA
Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC) has condemned the lifting of the ban on public gatherings – Friday prayers and Easter services by some state governors, describing it as reckless at this period of COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement issued on Friday by Dcn. Mike Egboh and Dr. Chizoba Wonodi, HSRC COVID-19 Response Task Team Co-chair, the coalition Implored governors to cancel all plans and reverse the directives to lift the ban on religious and other gatherings in the meantime.
“The Health Sector Reform Coalition receives with shock, concern and fear, the lifting of bans on some gatherings including Friday prayers and Easter services, by some states”.
According to them,” the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and similar decision by some governors across the country was a welcome development, however, it comes as shock to see that some states are already lifting bans on public gatherings.
The coalition observed that states that currently have zero recorded cases are still not safe and closing state borders is not enough.
“As the custodian of power in the state, necessity is placed on the governors to make the right decision that will protect the citizens”. They said.
They asserted that “ HSRC with its membership of over 100 non-governmental actors, working to improve health care and development across every state in Nigeria, recognizes and respects the importance of worship and religious celebrations to us Nigerians”.
“However, Cases in Nigeria have multiplied from one to 288 in six weeks with seven deaths. The number of states with established cases has risen from one to 17 within the same period”.
They added that “Trends from other countries show that without drastic measures such as maintaining lockdowns and distancing, the numbers can easily rise exponentially over a short time“.
They explained that with the high number of people living in poverty, high prevalence of chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes (underlying diseases) and very weak health systems, it will be catastrophic if the virus spreads widely in Nigeria.
“Our containment is still in the nascent stage, this is not the time to relax our guard. A couple of weeks are very critical in containing an upsurge in the number of confirmed cases”.
They called on all state governors to cancel all plans or reverse the directives to lift the ban on religious and other gatherings until the NCDC and Federal Ministry of Health advise otherwise.
“We further appreciate the socio-economic difficulties being faced by our people over the lockdown across the country and therefore call on the federal government and state governments to increase the delivery of economic mitigation packages to households and individuals that are in need, to reduce the pressure on people to go out for their daily living”.
They appealed to all Nigerians to continue to listen to the advice of health experts represented by NCDC and WHO at this critical time. As nothing is more important than staying alive.
