The Senate has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation on the situation of coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.
It said if the president addresses Nigerians, they would be more serious in adhering to the preventive measures.
The Red Chamber also asked the federal government to take more drastic measures to contain the spread of the virus.
The measures, it said, should include travel ban on some countries identified as epicentres, restrictions on large gathering, tighter border control, and stringent screening of those coming into the country.
The Senate also asked the government and Nigerians to keep abreast developments related to the pandemic.
It asked the federal government to ban some airlines from countries where the virus is widespread.
The Senate asked the government to close down all international airports in Nigeria except Abuja and Lagos as well as suspend the issuance of visa on arrival.
The federal government, it urged, should quarantine Nigerians returning from countries that had recorded over 1,000 cases.
Special intervention fund should be set aside to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, it urged.
These resolutions followed a motion by Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe).
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, cautioned against being complacent even though the country had only three (now eight) confirmed cases.
“If we feel we are safe, it will lead us to complacency,” he said, urging the government to marshal all available resources to tackle the virus spread.
Lawal also urged the federal government to set up testing centres in each of the six geopolitical zones, saying that it was dangerous for not having centres in north and southeast.
Senators, in their various contributions, said if advanced countries were taking drastic measures to contain COVID19 and protect their citizens, Nigeria should not be an exception.
They said the virus may spread to other part of the country if serious measures were not taken.
FG takes step
In what looks like an immediate response, the Federal Government has banned entry into the country for travellers from 13 countries with high number of coronavirus cases.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha said the countries are; China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland.
The SGF said the restrictions will come into effect from Saturday, 21st March, 2020 for four weeks subject to review.
Coronavirus latest in Nigeria
The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) confirmed five new cases of the coronavirus in Nigeria on Wednesday morning.
This is bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 8.
The minister of health, Dr. E. Osagie Ehanire, in a statement, revealed that three from the new positive cases arrived from the United States, while two came in from the United Kingdom.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had earlier tweeted about the new five cases.
