Kaduna State Government has come under pressure by residents who appealed for a review of the 30-day lockdown extension order to enable low income earners do their business.
Recall that Governor Nasir El-Rufai had on Sunday announced the extension of the existing Quarantine Act, imposing a 30-day lockdown on the state.
The residents, who made the appeal in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kaduna on Tuesday, said many of them who survived on daily incomes were now hungry with their families as a result of the lockdown.
A trader, Garba Saidu, said that the government should look into other alternatives of preventing the spread of Covid-19 rather than the lockdown as palliatives were not reaching everybody.
“I’m not happy with the extension order despite the increase in a number of cases in the state; the government should kindly think of other alternatives because of we, the low-income earners.
“How can we be lockdown for almost two months? This is unfair.
“Government should please look for other means of curbing the spread of the virus.
“For example, people should be checked at the point of entry into the state or at worship places as well as banks,” he said.
Ummulkulthum Ahmed, an entrepreneur, said that people should be allowed to move within the state, while borders should be closed to any form of movement, rather than the lockdown.
She said that the wearing of face mask and social distancing should be made compulsory for all citizens and those found violating the order should be punished.
Abdulganiyyu Rayyan, a tailor, said that though he worked from home, he had neighbours who must go out before they earn money for their needs.
He said that people like them were not “the poorest of the poor” before the lockdown, but were now resorting to begging to survive.
He urged the government to distribute palliatives that would sustain families for the period of the lockdown, adding that “without that, it may be difficult for residents to obey the order.”
Another resident, Abbas Abdul, however, said that the extension was okay as it would help in preventing the spread of the virus and urged the residents to be patient.
NAN
