{"id":1377,"date":"2020-05-05T10:10:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T10:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2020-05-05T10:15:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-05T10:15:06","slug":"managing-covid-19-lockdown-relaxation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/managing-covid-19-lockdown-relaxation\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing COVID-19 Lockdown Relaxation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Countries have devised a way to forge past the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects. Certainly, it will not be business as usual. After five weeks of lockdown, the country on May 4, began phased re-opening. The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Nigeria announced that re-opening the country\u2019s economy will be implemented in phases, spanning across six weeks, divided into three phases of two weeks each. Progression to the next phase is dependent on the evaluation of a current phase, which may inform the government\u2019s decision to tighten the lockdown, remain at a current phase or move to the next phase. According to the PTF, the phased strategy aims to reduce the pains of socio-economic disruptions while strengthening the country\u2019s public health response, and providing succor to the poor and vulnerable. Phase one of the reopening process is set to commence on Monday, May 4, with the resumption of select businesses and activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President Buhari had earlier announced an ease of the lockdown order,\nstating that Federal and State Governments would work on balancing the\nprotection of public health while preserving livelihoods. Chairman of the PTF\nand Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha further\nbuttressed the point made by the President, that State Governments have the\ndiscretion to choose how to tailor the new measures to the unique circumstances\nprevalent in their respective States, adding that&nbsp; relevant &nbsp;trade associations should be engaged at State\nlevel for orderly and effective implementation. He also called on security\nagencies to strictly enforce these new measures. Mustapha underscored the need\nfor management of offices to take precautionary measures, such as decontaminating\nand fumigating their environments, providing hand sanitisers, making\narrangements for physical distancing and ensuring mandatory use of face masks,\nahead of resumption. In addition to this, mandatory temperature checks will be\nconducted in public places. He also urged organisations to give special\nconsideration to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). The Minister of State for\nLabour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, speaking on the commemoration of the 2020\nWorld Day for Safety and Health at Work on Tuesday, April 28, also stressed the\nneed for employers to ensure good hygiene of their workplace, while enjoining\nemployees to adopt safe and healthy work behaviours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Lagos State, the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria, the State\nGovernment has announced&nbsp; guidelines for\nthe gradual ease of the lockdown. Businesses that are to operate within this\nperiod, including corporate firms, banks and markets are to open between the\nhours of 9am and 3pm. The timeframe appears realistic if residents of the high density\nState are to meet up with the 8pm-6am curfew. These businesses are to have a\nmaximum of 60% of their staff capacity, while other non-essential workers\ncontinue to work remotely from home. However, public officers from levels 1 to\n12 are to work from home unless otherwise directed by Accounting Officers of\nthe various State ministries. Commuters are mandated to wear face masks and\nobserve social distancing while queuing to board buses. Buses are to be loaded\nto a maximum of 60 per cent of their full capacity&nbsp; and avoid using air conditioners. Food\nvendors are to offer only take-out and delivery services. Schools, worship\ncentres and entertainment centres, beauty salons and public parks remain\nclosed. The State also has whistleblower channels to receive reports of\nnon-compliance with the new directives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Federal Government directed civil servants from grade level 14 and\nabove, as well as staff providing essential services to resume on Monday, May\n4. Offices are to open three times in a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and\nclose at 2pm. According to the Head of Civil Service for the Federation,\nFolashade Yemi-Esan, Federal Secretariat complexes have been decontaminated\nwhile plans are underway to do same in other public offices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The guidelines and recommendations for re-opening the economy as given\nby the Federal Government:&nbsp; <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Phase one\nof the&nbsp; process is set to commence on\nMonday, May 4<\/li><li>Curfew hours are between 8:00pm and 6:00am and\nopening hours for selected offices are between 9am and 2pm. <\/li><li>Persons&nbsp;\nbelow the age of 15 years and persons who are 50 years and above and\/or\nhave a history of underlying health conditions are advised to stay at home. <\/li><li>Non-essential inter-state travel is prohibited.\n<\/li><li>Facemasks are to be worn compulsorily by all\npersons and social distance guidelines are to be maintained. <\/li><li>All agricultural activities and select public\nconstruction work&nbsp; across 26 States of\nthe Federation are to commence in this phase, with adequate health and security\nguidance provided by State governments. <\/li><li>Local markets will be allowed to operate twice\na week between 10.00 am and 4.00pm. Abattoirs are to operate on market days.\nNeigbourhood markets are to open three times a week, for longer hours but in\nadherence to the general curfew hours. Market associations have the\nresponsibility to control the number of people in the market per time, and\nstrict sanitation protocols are to be observed before entry into the market. <\/li><li>Movement of vehicles must be restricted to\nintra-state travel, except for movement of food, construction materials and\ncritical resources. Vehicles used to transport such resources would be limited\nto 3 persons, inclusive of the driver. <\/li><li>The occupancy rate for buses is a maximum\nof&nbsp; 50 per cent. Use of face masks and\nsanitisers is compulsory for all drivers and passengers. State Ministries of\nTransportation are responsible for engaging road transport unions to discuss\nmodalities and enforce regulations for transport work rotation, that is alternating\nwork days. <\/li><li>The ban on passenger flights remains. However,\ntransportation of air cargo will be allowed to aid movement of goods and\nservices across the country. <\/li><li>Eateries and restaurants are to operate only\ntakeaway services, while roadside vendors are restricted to their\nneighbourhoods and adhere to the curfew hours. <\/li><li>All schools, sport gatherings, religious\ngatherings, hospitality and social services remain prohibited in this phase. <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Countries have devised a way to forge past the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects. Certainly, it will not be business as usual. After five weeks of lockdown, the country on May 4, began phased re-opening. The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Nigeria announced that re-opening the country\u2019s economy will be implemented in phases, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-1377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-managing-covid-19-lockdown-relaxation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1377"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1393,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions\/1393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}