The Federal Government has said that here were no records of any COVID-19 case in any of the 244 custodial facilities across the country.
The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said this on Thursday in Abuja, at the 23rd joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
This is as he said that a new order must emerge in the country as the nation channels its resources to tackle the virus and ensure quick recovery from the effects of the virus.
According to him, the officers at the nation’s custodial centres are dutifully following the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) protocols and that the ministry had stopped any form of intake into any of the centres.
“The Federal Government had also helped by decongesting the correctional centres with the recent pardon granted to some prisoners by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“And I can attribute the non-record of Coronavirus case in any of the custodial centres to diligence on the part of the officers.
“Our officials at the custodial centres had maintained a crisis free regime in spite of the tough situation occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic,” Aregbesola said.
He added that the combined efforts of the security agencies on patrol of Nigeria and Cameron borders has helped to forestall the coming of both regular and irregular people into the country, especially the eastern flanks of the country.
“The effort we are making as PTF is to ensure that even after this COVID-19, we will look at how we have changed our attitude and a new social economic and spiritual order will emerge,” he said.
He commended the governors of Borno, Taraba, Cross Rivers, Benue, among others, for ensuring the safety of the nation’s borders and preventing illegal entries that could compromise the country’s border.
