…As Resident Troop out en-mass June 1^st

Joel Ajayi

Masks and face coverings, social distancing are part of measures to curb the spread of the pandemic COVID-19 that is ravaging the world by the government of the day, but today while the affected persons  are still waxing stronger and death number surge, Resident in Federal Capital Territory FCT have dumped the use of face mask while social distancing is the thing of the past.

Also, our Reporter observed that on Monday 1^st of June resident troop out in their number to continue their day to day activities as the federal government is yet to clear the coast on that.

The Gleamer News the finding revealed that Sanitizers are gradually disappearing many public places, we’re left with a bowl of water without soap soon, and it’ll be only water!

The state’s mask requirement applies to any residents who are in a public place, over age 2 and can’t maintain at least six feet of distance from other people. The same rules apply to people who use public transportation, taxis, market places, and all the essential service workers.

Despite the plea and warning by the government and health authorities for Nigerians to maintain social distancing as a measure of containing the rapid spread of Coronavirus, many in FCT are did not  comply even, with the current ease of lockdown on the city and two others.

Some have turned a deaf ear to the appeal; Our Reporter gathered that face mask is now aesthetic, as many use it to decorate their jaw without using it to cover their mouth and nose.

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, which has so infected over 10,000 and over 287 deaths in Nigeria, the federal government announced ease of lockdown on Ogun, the FCT and Lagos, the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.

Apart from the ease of lockdown, the government recommended ways to prevent one from contracting the virus such as good hygiene, frequent handwashing, and social distancing.

On April 1st, 2020 FG relaxed the lockdown rules by announcing that only shops and stalls selling food and groceries would be allowed to open to customers in states where a lockdown was imposed.

But when Our Reporters visited some markets and some suburbs of the FCT, they observed that the social distancing rules recommended were not being adhered to by many.

Our Reporter also noticed that most traders neither washed their hands nor used hand sanitizers as recommended, though many traders were seen  decorating their jaw with face masks as no one wear hand gloves that were recommended.

The Gleamer News who moved around some of the markets amongst others in FCT gathered that resident is now paying lips service to the usage of face mask and social distancing in FCT.

One of the leaders of the Kado Fish Market who doesn’t know that our Reporter was in the market, was moving from one shop to another telling them  and The Gleamer News quotes “ NTA is coming this morning, please there should be soap and water in every shop, let us fulfill all righteousness.”

The question is what happens to the other days that NTA or Media have not visited those places? That is the question begging for an answer.

On getting to open market at Mpape, a suburb of Abuja is less than seven kilometers to the city center, an area believed to be the territory of rich and wealthy class people in Nigeria.

A visit to the market on Saturday between 8:30 and 10:30 AM showed that both the buyers and sellers appeared to have forgotten about the existence of coronavirus as everywhere was congested with people trying to buy and sell.

Some of the traders said both face mask and social distancing were ‘myths’ for the poor in Nigeria.

While some consumers are pricing tomatoes, some were busy buying fish, meat. Others also displayed their plastics and shoes for sale despite the federal government directive that only traders in food and essential products were exempted.

Malam Ibrahim who said she has been selling catfish in the market for eight years said the effect of ease of lockdown has aggravated hunger in his home.

“I am just selling this fish for selling sake; I need to hold money for hand. There is no money to feed the children. I only witness something like this during the election period and it is for one or two days, two months is too much,” he said

A for Umar (not real name) he expressed; “maintaining social distancing is not feasible among the poor. Do you know how many of us sleep in the room; the two-meter social distancing is not possible.”

At Nyanya Axis our Reporter saw that residents moving around these communities on the outskirts of the city. The communities host a large number of civil servants, mostly middle class and the lower class.

Although the security operatives, mounted checkpoints along the Karu-Nyanya highway, this did little to deter the movement of Okada riders and tricycle operators who made brisk business.

The operators found a way to network the communities in their attempts to dodge the roadblocks and convey passengers.

The Karu market was also open during the approved hours with a massive influx of residents who jostled one another and failed to keep the social distancing measures.

In the innermost parts of these communities, residents gathered in tightly clustered groups, most outside their houses to play games such as luck.

A visit to Lugbe Berger market in Abuja also showed that traders were not ready to use face mask talk less of social distancing.

Some of the traders said they have never closed their stores since the outbreak of the virus in Nigeria because they need to feed their families.

While speaking on the implication of non-adherence wearing of face mask and social distancing a public health specialist, Joshua Odugbose  a doctor at Nassarawa teaching hospital who resides in Abuja, said such gatherings pose a danger of community transmission of the virus.

 “It will be difficult to identify people who are carriers if they continue to gather without observing social distancing.”

“The reason for face mask and social distancing is to identify the unidentified carriers, that is, those who are carriers of the virus but they don’t know they have it. They start transmitting it to people immediately they have the virus,” he added.

Meanwhile, on Saturday and Sunday Nigeria records 553 and 307 new cases of COVID-19 respectively, highest daily figure ever, According to NCDC

Nigeria reported 307 new confirmed new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total of confirmed infections in the country to 10,160 as 3,007 discharged while 287 deaths recorded.

The Gleamer News reported that the figure is the highest daily cases so far reported since the beginning of the outbreak in the country.

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