Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has called for further extension of the two weeks lockdown; saying that the two weeks period will not be enough to trace all cases, especially to the local government areas.
The NULGE also stated that the record of deaths as a result of COVID-19 pandemic might have been downplayed
because some of the people infected were not yet captured in the records; while some death that has occurred most especially in remote areas have a link with COVID-19.
Speaking in an interview with journalists on Monday, NULGE President, Com. Ibrahim Khaleel said the union has already sensitised its chapters to also go ahead and sensitise their members at the rural areas on the need to be watchful and adopt all the preventive measures as outlined by the professional on how to keep themselves safe and stop the spread of COVID-19.
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He pointed out that the government should do everything to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread to the local areas and grassroots level, warning that if the COVID-19 pandemic should get to the local area it would be very difficult to curtail.
The NULGE President said: “At the expiration of the two weeks lockdown, the Federal Government should consider extending the lockdown because these two weeks may not be sufficient to get all the cases traced out.
“That was our thinking as people that are more connected to the rural people. We are watching and observing what is happening in rural areas. Though there is no clear cause of COVID-19 yet in any hamlet so far as all the cases traced so far are from the cities, NULGE has already sensitised our chapters to sensitise our people in the rural areas on the need to be watchful and adopt the preventive measures as outlined by the professional on ensuring that they wash their hands regularly, use hand sanitizers and also avoid overcrowded places.
“We did our best in enlightening our members and we are a bit worried particularly on the health infrastructures available in rural areas. Peradventure we have this COVID-19 pandemic in the rural areas, there is no way it can be tackled. This is because if you look at the capacity and availability of medical infrastructures in the rural areas it is not encouraging.”
NULGE, therefore, called on the Federal Government to complete the abandoned projects initiated some years ago in collaboration with the Federal Government and ALGON on the construction of some rural clinics under the Primary Health Care arrangements.
This, according to him, could be provided for from the contributions being made to the Federal Government to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said: “So on this note, I want to use this medium to call on the Federal Government as a matter of urgency and strategic importance to ensure that even if it is from the contributions made by individuals and corporations; to complete the abandoned projects which were initiated in collaboration with the Federal Government and ALGON some years ago on the construction of some rural clinics under the Primary Health Care arrangements.
“That abandoned projects in the rural areas should be given good attention this time around because those projects were spread all over the 774 local governments in the country. The projects were also sited in remote areas considered without health facilities in those local government areas but unfortunately, completion is the problem.
“So, it is important for the Federal Government to does something, mostly that the projects have reached up to 70 to 80 per cent completion.”
On the deaths recorded from the COVID-19 pandemic, the NULGE president said: “The records of death is downplayed because some of the people infected are disconnected from the records and I believe strongly that some death that has occurred, most especially in remote areas have a link with COVID-19.
“The best way to address this kind of situation is to ensure that the local governments PHC units are functioning very well and infrastructures are adequately on the ground because they can actually complement the efforts of the NCDC.
NCDC is like the tertiary facilities and it has no bearing with the rural areas and you can’t remove the probability of having some people being infected spreading to the rural areas.
“There are more cases that have not been traced by NCDC because their structure is central and if you are doing something like this, it must be bottom-top approach because the top-bottom approach does not yield the required results and all these gaps must be a breach.”
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