Federal civil servants on grade level 12 and above to resume full work hours

Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, says that Federal civil servants on Grade Level 12 and above would resume full work hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. while the rest were to continue to stay at home.

The Coordinator of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, on Thursday while speaking on the new changes in the extended phase two of eased lockdown.

Newsmen report that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the retention of current phase of National response to COVID-19 for another four weeks with modifications.

Aliyu also announced that the national curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. remains as the phase two eased lockdown is extended for four weeks.

The coordinator also gave the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) the green light to start planning its resumption for future phases after the second phase.

He said that daycare, primary, secondary, tertiary institutions remain closed, while recreational parks could open for supervised physical exercise.

He stated that only 20 people were allowed at funerals, weddings and other essential gatherings.

The coordinator said that strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols was all about behavioural change.

He said: “So that as you are aware, we are currently in phase two of the eased lockdown which started on the 1st of June 2020.

“Since then, we have made several minor adjustments to accommodate the gradual reopening of the economy as well as to address key challenges in the response.

“We have made an assessment of the current phase and as mentioned by the chairman, we have made recommendations to Mr President to retain the current phase of the response with minor changes to address some of the challenges we see on the economic, social, political and health fronts.

“The assessment that we did has revealed that there’s a lot of non-compliance with our non-pharmaceutical interventions, a lot of disbelief, skeptism, negativity with regards to the COVID pandemic.

“It is very clear that we need to have additional interventions to improve compliance with our non-pharmaceutical measures and our protocols.

“We also need to strengthen the engagement of communities and local authorities in prevention campaigns as well as expand on the current rollout of precision base control measures in high burden local governments in the country.

“Further to this effective from early morning hours of today and the measures put in place for the current phase two of the eased lockdown shall be maintained while addressing some specific aspects.

“These include maintaining the current nationwide curfew From 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

“Maintaining the restrictions on mass gatherings with specific emphasis on protecting vulnerable populations.

“We continue to urge persons above the age of 60, those that have underlying medical illnesses, such as: diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and those that have immunosuppression to please stay at home and limit the interaction with the general public.