Commenting on Nigeria’s testing capacity, the President of the NANNM, AbdulRauf Adeniji, in an interview with The PUNCH,  said COVID-19 had brought to the fore problems in the country’s health sector.

He stated, “The truth is that we are not well-equipped for the virus.

“Before COVID-19 came to Nigeria, the minister (of health) said we were equipped, but it is clear that our infrastructure cannot handle the testing capacity.

“People can have the virus and will not know it and still mingle with health officials and even their families thereby spreading it. We are playing with the tail of a rattlesnake in this country.

“What I am saying is that the number of people, who have coronavirus in Nigeria, is more than the number recorded by the government.

“The PTF (the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19) should be able to advise the government properly on what should be done.

“The case definition is a problem. People may have it without all the conditions (high temperature, coughing and sneezing) stated.

“Despite lockdown, we still see people walking around.

On his part, the President of the Association of Resident Doctors, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Dr Abbah Ugwu, said the government was not doing enough.

He stated, “We have limited cases because our testing capacity is not enough. 

“We have not tested enough people as in other countries.

“Government is chasing thousands of people who have had contact with established cases, but I cannot say that the number we have is a true picture of the existence of the virus in Nigeria because we are not testing enough.

“There is gross under-testing of the people so the lockdown is not effective. In other countries, they have started doing house-to-house testing of their people.

“But it is unfortunate that we are not getting enough information from the government concerning the testing capacity we have.

“Only increase in the number of testing will make the lockdown effective.”

The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has said it has so far impounded about 269 vehicles for violating the lockdown order.

The President, Muhammadu Buhari, had on Sunday last week ordered a two-week lockdown of Lagos and Ogun states as well as the FCT, as part of measures to curtail the spread of coronavirus.

The FCT police spokesman, DSP Anjuguri Manzah, said on Sunday that the owners were cautioned while their vehicles were held.

He said , “Over 200 vehicles belonging to violators of the lockdown directive are in our custody. The motorists were not detained because of the social distancing directives, but their vehicles have been impounded.

“We are still carrying out a 24-hour monitoring of the city. We appeal to FCT residents to abide by the stay-at-home order.”

It was also observed that some commercial drivers, engaged in providing inter-state services between the FCT and Kaduna, were active.

Residents of several satellite towns in the FCT equally visited open markets and corner shops to make purchases.

Most of the residents, however, failed to observe the physical social distancing instruction.

In Kubwa, a number of residents were observed making purchases at markets in Kubwa, Arab Road, Byagyin, Dutse Alhaji, Army Housing and Abattoir.

A resident, Ngozi Okoye, who spoke to one of correspondents in the Kubwa market, said, “My family must eat even if they say we should not go to church. Our children are back from school and they eat from morning till night.”

Kenny Ogbuagwu, a motorist, told one of our correspondents, “People are tired of staying indoors.”

However, in the Bwari area, one of our correspondents observed that the rate of compliance to the lockdown on Sunday was high.

In Kuje area council, traders including those who transact business on walkways around the central market were off the streets when one of our correspondents visited.

A resident of the area, who gave his name as Yahaya Tanko, said, “I don’t have money to go out and buy anything. The little food we have is almost running out.”

But commercial activities in the Mpape area, a few metres away from highbrow Maitama District, were also in full swing when one of our correspondents visited.

One of the traders who did not give his name said, “For most of the residents of Mpape, COVID-19 doesn’t exist.

Meanwhile, an Islamic cleric, Imam Abubakar, was arrested in the Wuye District of the Federal Capital Territory on Sunday for contravening the presidential lockdown order aimed at curbing the further spread of coronavirus in Abuja.

A Turkish man and an Angolan citizen were also arrested in Wuse 2 for violating the stay-at-home directive.

Chairman of the FCTA enforcement team, Attah Ikharo, said the men were taken to the Maitama Police Division.

He said the task force team also impounded 269 vehicles for contravening the presidential order in the nation’s capital

Nigerians residing abroad who have indicated an interest in returning home on account of the coronavirus pandemic will pay before their evacuation to Nigeria, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has disclosed.

The minister informed our correspondent on Friday that the stranded citizens would be required to pay for their flight ahead of the evacuation.

Onyeama stated this in a text message in response to an inquiry from The PUNCH about the evacuation.

Asked if those who registered for evacuation would pay before or after their evacuation, the minister replied, “before evacuation.”

However, he did not respond when asked if the government had any plan for those who might not be able to afford a return ticket.

Many Nigerians had been clamouring to come back to Nigeria following the increase in cases of COVID-19 across the world.

A viral video showed about 100 Nigerians being evicted from their homes and hotels in Guangzhou by the Chinese authorities last week.

Sequel to this, the MFA had directed Nigerian missions abroad to compile a list of stranded Nigerian nationals who wished to come back home.

It stated that the financial implications would be borne by the prospective evacuees, who would also be compulsorily quarantined on arrival.

In response to the directive, the Nigerian Consulate in New York, United States, Nigerian High Commission in the UK and in other countries announced that they had begun compiling names of Nigerians willing to return home.

Findings on Sunday indicated that the registration exercise for Nigerians interested in returning home has ended with over 2,000 individuals enrolling for evacuation.

Confirming this on Sunday, the spokesman, Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, Abdul-Rahman Balogun, stated that the missions were currently processing the names of those who had registered.