By Ishaya Ibrahim
Businessman and philanthropist, Valentine Ozigbo, has recommended a complete ban on inter-state travels to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus in Nigeria.
Ozigbo, the immediate past President and CEO of Transcorp plc, made the appeal in a video message released Friday, March 27, on his social media platforms.
On March 29, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria announced the shutdown of Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory to limit the spread of the disease.
But Ozigbo, said that the total ban on inter-state movements by the Federal Government would be a far-reaching effort to save lives from the raging Covid-19 pandemic.
“The reason is we’ve learnt from the mistakes and successes of others.
“We’ve seen how China, where it started from, has moved from having the greatest acceleration to the greatest deceleration. In fact, at some point, at Wuhan: zero case. What did they do rightly?
“What they did was aggressive isolation; staying at home and banning any form of movements except for essentials. Getting everybody complete lockdown has helped immensely in whatever other actions that they’ve taken,” he said.
The businessman commended the Nigerian aviation industry for halting its operations as a measure to curtail the spread of the virus.
He said that although Nigeria was gravely vulnerable to international passenger traffic, it was far more vulnerable in local communities and villages.
“If this virus should find its way into our villages and local communities, there won’t be any line of defense. My plea is that we don’t allow for this to get so bad before we take these actions,” he said.
