COVID-19: ECOWAS Extends Shutdown Of Abuja, Lagos Offices

The ECOWAS Commission has extended the closure of its offices in Abuja and Lagos for one week.

The ECOWAS Commission President, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, announced the directive in a statement by the commission’s directorate of communication on Thursday.

Brou said the decision followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s extension of the lockdown in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun States, on Monday.

President Buhari had said in his third nationwide address on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Monday, that the federal government would gradually relax the lockdown in phases beginning from March 4, 2020.

Brou said, “As a consequence of this directive, all staff of ECOWAS Institutions in Abuja and Lagos are to continue to stay and work from home until further notice while also following the guidelines and advisory on COVID-19 pandemic issued by WAHO and the Nigerian authorities.”

The ECOWAS Commission president also commended the federal government, “for taking the decision which has helped to contain the exponential spread of the disease.”

Meanwhile, as of Monday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country had risen to 1,337, with Lagos accounting for 764 of the total number.

15 countries in West Africa have jointly recorded a total of 7905 cases with 201 deaths, 2401 recoveries and 5294 active cases, as of April 26.