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The Anap foundation has called on the presidential taskforce on Covid-19 and the governors forum to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of the compulsory lockdowns as well as its unintended consequences which they continue to generate.

Anap said it was time to review the strategy, “as it is clear that compulsory Lockdowns (as implemented by our own security agencies) are not working.

“Food has become a lot more expensive in various urban centres, as transportation costs have soared due to rising security obstacles, arbitrary closure of inter-state borders and other supply chain disruptions.”

It said the longer the Compulsory Lockdowns continue, the higher the risk of a breakdown in law and order, despite the best efforts of Government and other well-meaning Nigerians in distributing food and money to those in need.

In a statement Thursday, the foundation’s Covid-19 think tank headed by Atedo Peterside and Abubakar Saddique Mohammed said “since the commencement of the Compulsory Lockdowns in Lagos and Ogun States plus Abuja/FCT more than 3 weeks ago and now extended to all the States of the Federation, the number of people being infected has climbed steadily (as expected) and the spread to various parts of the country has continued apace.

“To date, 28 persons are confirmed as having died on account of COVID-19. Meanwhile 25 Nigerians appear to have been killed by the security agencies in their bid to enforce various compulsory lockdown measures. A situation where Nigerians are being killed daily by law enforcement agencies at almost the same pace as the Coronavirus kills them is totally unacceptable.”

It said there was “a need to change direction from a Compulsory Lockdown to an Intelligent Lockdown (as practiced by a few countries) which largely thrives on voluntary actions by an informed populace. The original expected benefit of the Compulsory Lockdowns was to buy some time so that public enlightenment and awareness campaigns could educate the populace whilst also helping to popularize self-quarantine. These awareness campaigns and self-quarantine measures have helped, and they should continue.”

The foundation suggested an end of the compulsory lockdown in favour of intensification of enlightenment and awareness that can facilitate the social distancing rules.

It also called for the “the suspension of large public, social and religious gatherings should continue until further notice and schools should closed.

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