Anthony Iwuoma
Contrary to the belief of many that the COVID-9 lockdown was relaxed probably due to successes recorded in the fight against the virus, the Federal Government said it it did so because it expected that Nigerians would take charge of their own health since it had prescribed necessary guidelines for them.
This much was disclosed by the Director-General of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, who said they expected Nigerians to decide not to worsen the country’s situation.
lhekweazu , who spoke on TVC on Tuesday, admitted that easing the lockdown did not meet government’s expectations, considering what happened on Monday, when people threw caution to the wind and flaggrantly disregarded the social distancing rule.
He said “We don’t think that easing the lockdown was a mistake.
“We knew already knew that this day would come but we really expected Nigerians to take a little bit more responsibility for what happened yesterday.
‘“There is only a little the government can do. We can issue lockdowns, we can bring out the police but we rely on the common sense of most Nigerians, we rely on Nigeria taking responsibility.
“This is not being done for NCDC or for the Federal government or the state government. It is being done for all of us.
“So we really are counting. Let’s take yesterday as an exception.
“Lets see what happens today. Let us see how many cooperates will come out of their offices and organize the queues in front of their offices.
“Let’s see how many cooperates will organize their office spaces and actually put out their hand washings and educate their staff on the changes that they need to do for themselves.
“This is not being done for us. This is being done for you.
“So all of us have to take responsibility.”
