The Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, Senator Francis Fadahunsi, has said the lawmakers, who returned from overseas, should be traced and quarantined immediately to stop coronavirus spread.
Fadahunsi, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, said, “It was not enough for the authorities to assume that the affected lawmakers would use the suspension of plenary by the National Assembly for two weeks break to isolate themselves.
Spokesman for the Senate, Godiya Akwashiki, told journalists on Tuesday that the two-week break was meant for all senators go into self-isolation.
Senator Mathew Urhoghide, who is one of the legislators who returned from overseas recently, said, “We have being on self-isolation since we came back. We have followed necessary procedure to avoid contact.” But Fadahunsi said allowing them to continue to mix freely with members of the public would further aggravate the spread of the disease.
He challenged health officials at the airports to use of the information supplied by those who recently returned from overseas to trace them.
He also suggested a total lockdown for three days to achieve that purpose.
He said, “Coronavirus is here already. Unfortunately it is rising slowly and we are afraid because many of those who have travelled abroad have returned.
“They have already mingled with members of the public before we closed our borders.
“Most Nigerians including legislators, who have travelled abroad and have returned, are already in our midst.
“We are not above the law, they passed through the airport and the documentation was done.
“Officials could trace them. There is no lawmaker that is so tiny that you cannot trace. They should trace them.”
He added, “We have already advised them (lawmakers) to go for tests. The Federal Government has the power to call them because they passed through immigration.
“If they mixed with the public this thing will continue to spread. They should look for them by tracing them through their record so that they can quarantine them.
“I’m advocating a total lockdown for about two or three days so that we would be able to sanitise the whole system.”
