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General News of Monday, 22 June 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Nigerians only use face mask to avoid security agents - PTF

Sani Aliyu Sani Aliyu

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has said that many Nigerians only use face mask just to avoid security agents.

This was stated by the National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr. Sani Aliyu while decrying the lack of adherence to the COVID-19 guidelines given by government.

Dr. Aliyu, however, revealed that the PTF will cooperate with security agents to ensure that the guidelines are enforced in the country.

“Some of the observations that have arisen from these activities (the national sensitisation program) include the fact that Nigerians have continued to show persistent and remarkable lack of compliance to COVID-19 prevention protocols, which is quite worrying,” Dr. Aliyu said.

“In the cities where adherence to these protocols was high in the first two weeks of the ease of lockdown, progressively, over time, citizens are letting down their guard and this remains a great concern.

“There is partial to total noncompliance with facemasks and physical distancing protocols by the public. Many Nigerians only use face masks to avoid security agents, where enforcement exists or where they are told to do so.

“There is also significant disbelief in the danger and impact of COVID-19. In parts of the south-east where we did a recent survey, 60 per cent did not believe that Covid was an issue at all. We clearly are not taking the pandemic seriously enough.

“There are also many myths that also continue to exist within the social media platforms, ranging from conspiracy theories to get-rich-quick to claims of treatment of herbal concoctions, all of which appear to be putting our sensitisation efforts at risk.”

Dr. Aliyu continued: “Now, you are more likely to contract COVID now if you go out and don’t observe the strict measures that we recommend far more than when this problem started three months ago, simply because of the numbers we are currently having.”