Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday evening ordered the total containment of the populations of Abuja, the federal capital and Lagos, a sprawling megalopolis of 20 million inhabitants, while the official cases of infection at Covid-19 approach 100 .

"I order the cessation of all movements in Lagos and Abuja for an initial period of 14 days, which will take effect Monday March 30 from 11:00 pm," said the head of state in a television address.

"All residents of these states must stay at home. Travel to other states must be canceled. All stores in these two cities must be closed," said Muhammadu Buhari. The cities of Abuja and Lagos each represent one of the country's 37 states.

But "food stores, gas stations, electricity distribution companies, and security companies will be exempt," he said. However, their "access will be very restricted and monitored".

"We know these measures will cause a lot of difficulty (...) but it is a matter of life and death," said the 77-year-old former general.

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with nearly 200 million inhabitants recorded Sunday evening 97 declared cases, but their number could quickly explode thanks to the importation of new test kits this week, warned the Minister of the 'Information Lai Mohammed Thursday. Twenty thousand tests must be received.

The country was awaiting a speech from the president who had not spoken since his right arm had tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week.

Difficult confinements in Africa

Containment measures are causing a great deal of misunderstanding and contestation in sub-Saharan Africa, where a large part of the population lives on less than two dollars a day and depends on the informal economy to survive.

Sunday morning, Patrice Talon, president of Benin, neighboring country of Nigeria, had declared that his country "does not have the means of the rich countries (...) to accompany the reductions of mobility or the confinements".

"The impossibility of imposing total quarantines in slums or in disadvantaged neighborhoods means that this will not be an option in Africa," notes the international economic consultancy, NKC African Economics.

"Mismanagement of the situation could result in a cost of human life far greater than economic losses," said this study published this week as sub-Saharan Africa records a worrying increase in the number of cases on a continent without strong health system.

With AFP

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