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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has warned Nigerians not to patronise a ‘yellow vaccine’ on sale in Kano purported to be a cure for the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, gave the warning at the daily media briefing of the presidential task force on Tuesday.
According to him, “you must ignore the vaccine being hawked in Kano, which is called the COVID-19 vaccine. It is yellow in colour, it is not certified by anybody. Please don’t patronise the hawkers.”
The information minister has also threatened that government will come down heavily on media houses whose guests misinform the public.
Mohammed said that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) had taken steps to prevent misinformation via the broadcast stations by warning them to adhere strictly to the professional ethics of balance and fairness in reporting COVID-19.
According to him, the NBC has warned the stations against bringing on their programmes ‘panellists’ with agenda to make reckless statements and insinuations.
He also informed that enlightenment campaign had begun in an effort to get the populace to adhere strictly to social distancing and mass gathering restrictions.
According to him, a recent opinion poll had shown that 99 percent of Nigerians are aware of COVID-19 and that his ministry and its agencies had ramped up their public enlightenment and advocacy campaign to continue to reach Nigerians with information on how they can protect themselves and avoid contracting the disease.
Mohammed said: “This is necessary because, in the absence of vaccine or drugs, Non Pharmaceutical Intervention (NPI) remains the most effective way to contain the spread of the disease and protect Nigerians. The campaign has therefore continued to focus on the need for the populace to adhere strictly to social distancing and mass gathering restrictions, wearing face mask and ensuring good personal hygiene.
“We have no choice since information remains the most potent tool that can be deployed against the virus today.”
He said his ministry had now rolled out a new set of TVs and radio jingles focusing on the NPI interventions. The TVs and the jingles, in English, Pidgin, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, have started playing on the NTA and the FRCN.
