By ISMAILA CHAFE

Abuja, March 9, 2020(NAN) President Muhammadu Buhari has established a 12-man Presidential Task Force for the Control of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).

Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, who made this known in a statement in Abuja on Monday, said the committee would be chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha.

According to him, the current global outbreak of the novel Coronavirus and its potential of causing significant disruption to health services in the country as well as impacting negatively on the economy necessitates the setting up of the committee.

“This action is in preparation for the unlikely but probable major outbreak of the disease in the country which will require a multi-sectoral inter-governmental approach as advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) similar to that adopted for the HIV epidemic in the last two decades,’’ he said.

The presidential aide revealed that the `start and finish task group’ would be expected to deliver within a maximum period of six months.

Other members of the task force include: Dr Sani Aliyu, National Coordinator, Ministers of Health, Interior, Aviation, Education, Information and Culture, Environment as well as Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Services.

The Director-General, State Services; Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control; and the WHO Country Representative are also members of the task force. (NAN)