North-west govs shut schools for 30 days over coronavirus

Governors in the northwest region have shut down schools for 30 days amid the outbreak of coronavirus.

Nigeria currently has eight confirmed cases of the virus but none has been recorded in the north though some patients underwent test which proved negative.

Addressing journalists at the end of a regional meeting in Kaduna on Wednesday, Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina and chairman of the North-West Governors’ Forum, said the decision was taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the region.

Masari said the closure will take effect from Monday, March 23, 2020.

The governor also said there would be sensitisation campaigns to discourage large gatherings until further notice.

“States will continue to wage aggressive campaigns to encourage citizens to uphold personal hygiene, including hand washing and environmental sanitation,” he said.

The northwest governors as well well as their colleagues in Niger and Kwara states which share boundaries with the zone, also “resolved to jointly fund security operations aimed at conclusively addressing the security challenges” bedeviling their various states.

Present at the meeting were Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna) Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) and Abubakar Sani Bello (Niger).

The governor of Kwara State joined the meeting by telephone.

Lagos had earlier announced the move to suspend services in churches and mosques to check the spread of the virus.

There are currently eight cases of coronavirus in Nigeria.