The Presidency has urged Nigerians to ignore “baseless conspiracy theories” that seek to deny the reality of COVID-19 pandemic by complying with the order to wear facemasks.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement on Sunday
The statement said Nigerians have the duty to protect themselves and others in this difficult global health crisis, as no one has immunity against this pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a major threat to public health and wearing of masks, social distancing in public places and the basic hygiene are necessary. Ignoring health warnings and refusing to comply with safety measures does more harm than good,” it said.
The statement said the Presidency is worried by reports of non-compliance to the COVID-19 protocols, even has just signed an Executive Order that makes mask wearing and observation of social distancing in the public mandatory.
It said the Buhari administration is most reluctant to lockdown the country, hence it has continued to emphasise the non-pharmaceutical measures and the only way to avert lockdowns is to observe these measures as put in place by the Presidential Task Force.
“Protecting public health is one of the sacred duties of any responsible government and the administration will not abdicate that responsibility,” the statement said.
It appealed to Nigerians to give their maximum cooperation for the success of the policy.
