FG Extends Nationwide Curfew, Kano Lockdown by Two Weeks
***Targets Five Million Jobs From €995m Agric Programme
By Our Correspondent
Nigeria President, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari has approved the extension by two weeks of phase one of the relaxation of the lockdown imposed on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun states to check the spread of COVID-19.
The nationwide curfew, the ban on interstate travel and the lockdown of Kano State, which had recorded a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases, would continue until June 1.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Federal Government, Mr. Boss Mustapha, at the daily briefing of the task force in Abuja pn Monday.
Mustapha said Buhari granted the extension based on the recommendation of the task force.
Meanwhile the Federal Government says it is targeting about five million jobs for farmers through the €995m agricultural mechanisation programme.
The initiative was aimed at boosting food security for the country. Under the initiative, it added that facilities comprising tractors and other agricultural machineries were expected to be leased out to Nigerian farmers. It stated that this was coming under the in-kind facility for agricultural mechanisation. The in-kind facility, it added, was designed to help Nigeria attain food security, create jobs and diversify the economy from oil.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Dr Andrew Kwasari, was quoted in a statement as saying the agricultural machines would come from Brazil.
He said when the programme took off fully, it would create at least five million jobs and 35 million nutritional effects and economic impact on Nigerians.
Kwasari said the agricultural machines from Brazil would set the basic foundation across 632 local government areas for proper agricultural service. These machines, he added, would be leased out to the farmers for a fee, adding that the operations would be privately managed in a competitive manner.
