Religious leaders in Bauchi state have been urged to imbibe the culture of wearing of face masks in order to make their members believe that COVID-19 pandemic is real.
Governor Bala Mohammed of the state stated this while speaking on Thursday at a stakeholders meeting on measures being taken towards tackling the spread of the virus at the command guest house Bauchi.
He said the pastors and imams who have greater influence on their followers have to assist the government by educating their followers to comply with the preventive measures put in place to curtail the spread of infection among the people.
The governor said that his administration will purchase about 500 tricycles to ease the hardships been faced by the people of Bauchi due to the ban on the commercial motorcycle operators in the state.
The meeting also resolved that in view of the tremendous progress achieved in curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state through the enforcement of partial lockdown, the status quo be maintsined until the end of Ramadan fasting period.
The stakeholders meeting which had in attendance, traditional rulers, religious leaders, the business community and others was aimed at reviewing measures put in place to curtail the spread of the virus and see what next to do.
Governor Bala said that surveillance and monitoring activities will be intensified across the state to trace all those with suspected cases infection in order to take their samples for testing.
“As government, we will ensure that all interstate borders remained closed until further notice because all the cases in Bauchi state is now grappling with came from Kano, Lagos and other states”, Bala said.
The Governor maintained that the ban on Almajiri system in the state remained unchanged, saying, it was a collective decision by the 19 Northern Governors.
The Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Sulaiman Adamu who spoke on behalf of the traditional rulers warned that, nobody, no matter his or her status, will henceforth, be allowed into the state.
The Monarch vowed to, as traditional leaders, deploy members of the vigilante to man all the known and secret borders leading to the state.
