As COVID-19 cases increase in the country, the National Assembly may be shut down this week, Sunday PUNCH gathered on Saturday.
Already, security agents attached to the federal parliament had been asked to stop allowing visitors into the complex as from Tuesday this week.
Some senators who earlier spoke with one of our correspondents explained that the reason the National Assembly had not been shut down was because no case of COVID-19 case had been reported in Abuja, the nation’s seat of power.
However, few hours later, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Federal Ministry of Health confirmed 10 new cases of the coronavirus in Nigeria, with three new cases in the Federal Capital Territory and seven cases in Lagos State.
One of the lawmakers from the South-West who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “Now that it has been established that the disease has been recorded in Abuja, we would have no reason than to come up with a resolution, demanding the complete closure next (this) week Tuesday.”
Another senator from the North-Central geopolitical zone, who also craved anonymity, said since some lawmakers who recently returned from foreign trips had been asked to go for testing and self-isolation for two weeks, there was no point to open the chambers.
“Three cases have been established in Abuja, there is no reason the National Assembly should not be shut down totally,” he said.
A top management staff member who also spoke on condition of anonymity said the total closure of the National Assembly this week was a possibility.
He said, “The Senate has communicated its resolutions on the issue to the management and we have started working on it.
“Closing down the entire place is a possibility going by the alarming rate of the spread of the disease in the last few days.”
