The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, PTF, on Sunday said that Nigeria has reached the apex of community transmission and must get the communities involved in the fight against COVID-19.
The PTF Chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Boss Mustapha, disclosed this while speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to update President Muhammadu Buhari, Vanguard reports.
The PTF Chairman explained that 20 Local governments out of 774 account for 60 percent of confirmed cases in Nigeria today and these 20 local government are in communities.
Mustapha, while addressing the issue of easing of lockdown, said he can assure about one thing, that the ownership of the next phase will be the responsibility of the states under national supervision and coordination because Nigeria has gone into community transmission.
According to him, the communities are in the states so the ownership of the next phase will be that of the states, the local government areas, the traditional institutions, the religious leaders at the different levels of the communities because that is where the problem is.
He further stated that the states are sub-nationals, they have their own responsibilities too, so it is in the exercise of those responsibilities that they had meetings with religious bodies and agreed on the guidelines and protocols on how they open up.