The Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, has said state governments, community and religious leaders will be responsible for the next phase of the fight against COVID-19.
Mustapha, who is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, made the disclosure after members of the task force briefed President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Sunday.
He said the decision was due to the fact that Nigeria was currently experiencing community infection.
Addressing State House Correspondents after the meeting, Mustapha said: “The ownership of the next stage will be the responsibility of the states because we have gone into community transmission.
“Where are the communities? The communities are in the states. So, the ownership of the next stage will be the responsibility of the states, the local government, the traditional institutions, the religious leaders at the different levels of our communities, because that is where the problem is.”
Noting that the Federal Government will only provide supervision and coordination going forward, considering statistics released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, which shows that the country now has 10,162 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
