The Sharia commission in Bauchi says it has commenced sensitisation of the people on the need to adhere to practices that would keep them safe from coronavirus.
Nasiru Umar, the director incharge of Sensitisation and Islamic Propagation in the commission, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi on Friday.
He said the sensitisation focused mainly on imperative of social distancing, hand washing with sanitisers or soap and constant personal hygiene as means to check spread of the disease.
According to him, the commission has dispatched its personnel to Mosques, Churches and other public forums for intensive enlightenment.
Umar stressed that COVID-19 pandemic was an indisputable reality that could destabilize the society if proactive measures were not put in place by government and relevant stakeholders.
He noted with dismay, the careless statements attributed to some individuals in some parts of Nigeria disputing existence of the deadly disease, saying clerics needed to intensify efforts in sensitising the public.
The director commended both federal and individual state governments for taking bold and urgent measures to check the pandemic.He called on the public to report suspected cases of COVID-19 to the nearest health facility for prompt action and avoid being misled by medicine vendors who were bent on making fortunes out of the situation.
NAN reports that the Bauchi state government had locked all its boarders with neighbouring states to further check and prevent its citizens against the spread of the virus.Meanwhile, NAN has observed the gross violation of the directive of the state government on ‘social distancing.
The government had banned the clustering of people beyond 50 as a measure to check the pandemic which had found its way to the state, with Gov. Bala Mohammed as the first confirmed victim.
Marriages with teeming people in attendance are still common features in Bauchi metropolis, just as people who gather in joints traditionally referred to as “Majalisa” never observed the rule of being few meters apart from each other.
NAN notes that apart from the verbal warnings by the authorities carried over the media, there was no enforcement of the rules as the situation is almost business as usual. (NAN)
