The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has approved the release of 70,000 metric tons of grains to be released to the poor and vulnerable amid the restrictions to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, who stated this during a live briefing by the task force in Abuja on Wednesday, said Lagos State, Ogun State and the Federal Capital Territory would receive the first trench.

Buhari had, on Sunday, declared a total lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days beginning on March 30.

Mustapha said:

“I am pleased to inform you that Mr President has approved the release of 70,000 metric tonnes of grains from the national strategic reserve for distribution to the poor, the vulnerable and those whose livelihood will be affected by the lockdown.

“The first trench of about 6,000 metric tonnes will go to Lagos, Ogun and the FCT, while the remaining will go to other frontline states in the fight against COVID-19.”

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, also noted that the task force had received situation reports from the Federal Road Safety Corps on interstate traffic across the country as of Tuesday, March 31.

He noted that report indicated that there was a reasonable level of compliance with the presidential directive, which had led to a great reduction of traffic on major highways.

“We have however received reports of challenges arising from the enforcement of the presidential directive by security agents generally and in the states where governors have also imposed their own measures.

“As we continue to dialogue to remove the bottlenecks, I’m pleased to inform you that the presidential task force has developed an implementation guide and protocols for the COVID-19 lockdown policy.

“I must emphasise that the exemptions mentioned in the document cover strictly the essential staff of those agencies. So when an agency is exempted, that exemption does not cover all the staff. It covers only the essential staff as prescribed by those agencies,” Mustapha added.

According to the SGF, the document will be widely circulated to all the security agencies and will be discussed with the sub-national entities for the purposes of building synergy in the fight against the virus.

He added that the guidelines and policies would also be published in the national dailies and broadcast on the news network for more awareness.

The chairman of the presidential task force further noted that Buhari had approved limited operations, exemption for operating companies, services and logistics in the Nigerian upstream sector, in the continuing efforts to ensure minimal disruption of the upstream oil and gas exploration and operations in Nigeria.

“They will ensure regular gas supplies to fire turbines that supply domestic electricity. He has similarly authorised the exemption of essential staff of the seaports and all other activities in the seaports of Port Harcourt and, by extension, the terminals in Port Harcourt,” he added.