Four Nigerian States Without Coronavirus: How Long Can They Be Lucky?

As the deadly Coronavirus pandemic rages in Nigeria, spreading fear and panic and shutting down the nation’s economy, only four out of the 36 States of the federation have not been infected with the virus.

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, said on Sunday that 32 States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, have been infected with the deadly virus, ramping up 1,273 cases.

Also, the virus has killed 40 people in the nation, with 239 discharged.

The four States yet to be infected with the virus are: Yobe, Kogi, Nasarawa and Cross River. How lucky can these states be and how prepared are they to handle any outbreak of the disease?

1. Yobe
Yobe has not recorded a single case of Coronavirus since the outbreak. The Northeast state ravaged by insurgency has been so lucky.

This is due to cooperation from the people with the state government.

The Governor, Maimala Buni, recently inaugurated the state committee on the pandemic to prevent the entrance of the deadly virus into the state.

2. Kogi
Many people are surprised that Kogi State has not recorded a single case of Coronavirus. Reason being that the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari was with Governor Yayaya Bello and even shook hand with him shortly after he came back from Germany where he was infected with the disease.

More than 30 days had passed and Bello never showed any symptom of the virus.

Kogi has been on a partial lockdown since no Coronavirus case has been reported, but the Governor said he is adopting proactive measures to prevent the virus from entering the state.

Bello said recently that the state had not carried out any test on anyone suspected to be infected with the virus.

He said this was because it developed an application for tracking symptoms and that no one has so far manifested signs in the state, boasting that its COVID-19 sensitization campaign was yielding good results.

He said, “So far, so good, we have launched an app, and if nobody shows any sign or symptoms, we will not go out and catch anyone because we want to test anybody. We do not have any testing centre in Kogi but is in FCT, and we have test kits in case there is any need to collect samples.”

3. Nasarawa
As close as Nasarawa is to Abuja, the State has not recorded a single case of Coronavirus. Abuja has over 100 cases of the virus, but its neighbour does not have. It means Nasarawa has been very lucky.

In an effort to stem the spread of coronavirus because of the proximity from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nasarawa State government imposed a 24-hour Curfew on Karu local government. Vehicular movements have also been banned from 8 pm to 6 am across the state.

The state Governor, Abdullahi Sule has also set up a high powered COVID-19 committee to check the spread of the virus. But how far can the state go in preventing Coronavirus from entering, especially with its closeness with Abuja?

4. Cross River
Cross River is the only State in Southern Nigeria not have recorded a single case of Coronavirus. Its closest neighbour, Akwa Ibom has 12 confirmed cases of the deadly disease, but he state has managed to stay clear of Coronavirus.

Governor Ben Ayade, as part of measures to prevent Coronavirus lockdown the State and introduced practice measures, which has paid for him.

He also set up the COVID-19 emergency centre, in the of any eventuality, as well as set up a COVID-19 ad-hoc monitoring unit to enforce compliance to all preventive measures adopted by the state.

Meanwhile, with the rate of infections growing on daily basis in the country, how far can these four states go and how long will they be lucky? Time will tell.