Another COVID-19 Lockdown Will Hurt Nigeria’s Economy-FG

With the recent upsurge in the number of cases of the Coronavirus pandemic, which had resulted in the loss of lives of over 1,361 people, the Federal Government has said that it would do all it could to avoid shutting down the economy as it did last year.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed said this on Tuesday at the public presentation of the 2021 approved budget.

Nigeria has recorded about 101,331 confirmed cases with about 80,481 of them discharged as of Monday, January 12.

The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, had on Monday said the reopening of schools and religious centres without adherence to safety protocols contributed to the rise in COVID-19 cases across Nigeria.

He noted that reopening of airports and increased local and international travels also fuel the rise in Coronavirus cases from late November 2020.

“It is however very instructive to stress that factors that have contributed to rise in numbers from late November 2020 included increased local and international travels, business and religious activities, reopening of schools without strict compliance with COVID-19 safety measures,” Mustapha said.

Since early December, there has been a spike in coronavirus cases across Africa’s most populous country, an indication that the country had entered the second wave of the pandemic.

Health experts believe the lowering of guard on safety and the weak enforcement of protocols especially in the country’s major airports in Abuja and Lagos could be responsible for the development.

They warn that the situation could get worse if citizens keep violating safety protocols.

The federal government recently warned that a significant increase in COVID-19 infections in Nigeria appears imminent this January due to the violation of safety protocols during the Christmas period.

But answering question on whether the government is considering another lockdown in view of the rising cases in the country, the Finance Minister said such action would hurt the economy.

She said the government is doing all it could to check the spread of the virus in the country adding that if it becomes obvious that the spread is getting out of hand, then the option of another lockdown would be considered.

She said, “On the lockdown, we hope we won’t have to implement this because the impact will be very high on the economy.

“But then, if the health challenge becomes so large and government has no option, then it would happen. But right now, what we are doing as government is to enforce the measures that need to be taken by government, companies and individuals to reduce the expansion of covid-19. So we do hope that the lockdown that we saw in 2020 doesn’t happen.”