Governor David Nweze Umahi of Ebonyi State, on Saturday, ordered full lockdown in the State.
Umahi said that there shall be full lockdown of Communities and Villages from 7pm to 7am. All borders, entry and exit points shall be closed down against all movements including those on essential services with effect from today, 18th April, 2020.
The Governor gave the order during an expanded emergency State Security Council meeting which started about 12 noon.
*RESOLUTIONS:*
The State Security Council resolved as follows:
1. There shall be full lockdown of the Communities and Villages from 7pm to 7am. All borders, entry and exit points shall be closed down against all movements including those on essential services with effect from today, 18th April, 2020. All businesses and movements shall start from 7am and end by 7pm daily.
2. CCTV shall be mounted at all the borders and connected to the COVID-19 Central Monitoring Smart Phones of the Central Committee members.
3. All Government officials at the Local Government Areas, including Technical Assistants, Senior Technical Assistants and Executive Assistants are to immediately move to the borders and exit points of their Areas.
4. Each border shall have 7 blockages manned by separate teams in the following order and at a distance that will be determined by the Deputy Governor:
a. Army
b. Police
c. Other Security Agencies
d. Neighbourhood Watch
e. CAN
f. Council Chairmen/Coordinators and their team and
g. Town Union/Traditional Rulers.
Posting of Security Agencies to the borders shall be rotated per week.
5. Bribery in all borders is out lawed. Both the giver and the receiver shall be arrested and charged according to Ebonyi State COVID-19 Laws.
6. Henceforth, all Council Chairmen and Councilors whose border areas are porous shall be suspended. All appointees whose borders are leaking shall be removed from office.
8. Very soon, palliatives shall be distributed and shall be on polling unit by polling unit basis, through the government functionaries from the various polling units.
9. Conditional Cash Transfer list shall be compiled without consideration to political party affiliations.
10. Disbursement of State Government interventions for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and Agricultural programmes are suspended. Members of the public are to cooperate with the Council Chairmen in their efforts to compile the list of beneficiaries for Conditional Cash Transfer and other Central Bank of Nigeria Agricultural Interventions. People are encouraged to participate in the 5-Star Cassava and Rice Programmes of the Federal Government.
11. Party activities and meetings are suspended for now.
12. False Information/Fake news on COVID-19 pandemic and Related Matters shall be sanctioned according to Ebonyi State Coronavirus and other Dangerous (Infectious) Diseases and Related Matters Law No 005, 2020.
13. Ban on use of motorcycles in Ebonyi State is still in force. Only Health Workers and others on essential services like the press and security are exempted provided that they have a pass duly certified by relevant authorities. Ban on Religious gatherings including Sundays and other social gatherings are still in force.
14. The State Government shall embark on COVID-19 House to House testing exercise for the next two weeks targeting at the returnees, sick persons etc. We are to test not less than 2000 households within the next Two weeks.
15. Members of the public are enjoined to take snapshots of those found violating the Laws on Coronavirus or giving bribes at the borders and send same to the Covid-19 whatsapp platform. Service Chiefs are to be at the borders to ensure enforcement of the regulations.
16. Government emphasizes the need for every Ebonyian outside the State to stay where they are, until the battle against COVID-19 is won.
17. No corpse shall be received again by Mortuaries, except those that died in the hospitals in which case, causation of death must be established and permission to bury shall be sought accordingly. Those who died in their homes must be buried on the spot without any gathering.
18. Everybody coming outside his or her house must wear his or her face mask. The Governor has ordered for additional 600,000 face masks to be distributed to members of the public.
19. There shall be daily briefings to the public on COVID-19 updates as follows:
*SN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL DAYS REMARKS*
1 Deputy Governor Mondays, Tuesdays and Sundays
2 Governor with Health Commissioner and CMD AE-FETHA Wednesdays Security Council Meeting
3 Service Chiefs Thursday
4 Chairmen of Council Fridays
5 Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly (EBHA Saturdays To brief on palliatives
19. Coronavirus Courts shall be established in the 13 LGAs and additional one at the Capital City.
