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State governments on Monday explained obstacles to the enforcement of COVID-19 Health Protection Regulation 2021, which was signed by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) on January 27.
Our correspondents, who monitored major cities across the country on Monday, observed that many residents were not complying with COVID-19 protocols such as wearing of face masks and social distancing.
Officials of state governments, including Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Enugu and Niger, who spoke to The PUNCH on Monday explained difficulties in enforcing the safety rules as the police vowed to use “coercive measures” to ensure compliance.
According to the regulations signed by the President, any person that contravenes provisions of the regulations, upon conviction, risks a fine or a term of six months imprisonment or both in accordance with Section 5 of the Quarantine Act.
While Cross River State Commissioner for Health, Dr Betta Edu, attributed low compliance to lack of political will, the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ini Ememobong, linked non-enforcement of the protocols to the police.
The Enugu State Commissioner for Information Mr Chidi Aroh, said with the high level of non-compliance, mass arrest of people would be difficult.
Commenting on the COVID-19 rule enforcement, the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, Edu, said, “The political will is not strong all the way down. We need that political will. It should not stop at the level of the President signing an Executive Order. There should be discussions at the level of governors’ forum for them to agree on it and map out strategies on how to go about it and getting support from the Federal Government.
There is a lot of COVID-9 fatigue right now. Government is fatigued. Individuals are fatigued, even funding.”
According to him, during the first wave of COVID-9, it cost the state N10m daily to fund a task force that enforced the use of face mask.
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