LAGOS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria has tightened its measures to contain COVID-19 and experts have put forward various plans to deal with the pandemic's negative impacts on the country's economy.
The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said Sunday on Twitter that the total number of confirmed cases in the country is now 26, among whom two have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospital, while no death has been recorded.
The World Health Organization warned Nigeria and other African countries to prepare for the worst-case scenario as the virus continues to spread across continents.
STRICTER MEASURES
Nigerian Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said the federal government remains committed to working with states to provide optimal care for all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.
Contact tracing is ongoing to identify all persons who had been in contact with the new confirmed cases, he said.
The Port Health Services has heightened screening at air, land and sea points of entry into Nigeria and adopted the protocols of travel guidance issued by the Presidential Task Force on the Control of COVID-19, Ehanire said.
The minister said it is important that Nigerians strictly adhere to social distancing and other necessary precautions in place.
In most parts of the country, churches and mosques shifted their in-person services to online during the COVID-19 outbreak. Members were advised to stay home and pray at home.
In a similar move, police in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, have embarked on a massive enforcement of the ban order on social or religious gatherings as a measure to prevent the spread of the pandemic in the state.
The order limits the number of people attending social gatherings such as wedding ceremonies, burial ceremonies, parties and religious gatherings, to no more than 50.
BUFFERING ECONOMIC IMPACT
After being hit by global oil shocks, the economy of Nigeria, where oil is the mainstay, may slide into another recession in no time if the coronavirus crisis gets out of control, according to experts who have monitored the turn of events in the last few weeks.
Ben Akabueze, director-general of the Budget Office of Federation, has advised government agencies to intensify revenue generation as oil prices dwindle in the international market.
The expert told Xinhua that effective remittance and improving the generation of funds by these agencies would help the federal government to achieve a stable macroeconomic environment and industrialization amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Akabueze said lower domestic income and consumption, as well as shrinking foreign trade, were some of the negative impacts of COVID-19.
He said the benchmark of oil prices that was put at 57 U.S. dollars in the 2020 budget had been drastically reduced to 30 dollars.
In a similar view, Mary Uduk, acting director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the current COVID-19 pandemic calls for urgent diversification of the nation's economy.
While commending the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria for interventions aimed at cushioning the effects of the coronavirus on the economy, Uduk said the present consequences of COVID-19 are a wake-up call for Nigeria to truly and quickly diversify its economy.
The director-general highlighted the need for the country to work out a framework that would enable it to gain and prosper from the challenges of globalization.
