The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has urged banks and the NURTW to comply with guidelines set to ease the lockdown order.

The PTF also urged the National Union of Road Transport Workers to ensure strict adherence to the guidelines to ease the lockdown.

The Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this at the PTF daily press briefing on Monday in Abuja.

Mohammed also called on Nigerians to exercise patience in their bid to use the bank, adding that though the pandemonium experienced today in banks across the country was not unexpected.

He added that there was no need to engage in panic withdrawals.

According to him, the Federal Government has discussed with banks to constantly restock their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in order to forestall crowding.

The minister also asked the leadership of NURTW to warn their members to adhere strictly to transportation guidelines on COVUD-19.

He said that commercial vehicles are permitted to carry only between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of their capacity.

The minister noted that NURTW members were not immune against the virus and must, therefore, ensure strict compliance to protocol.

This, he said, was to curtail the spread of the disease, adding that the PTF would continue its sensitisation and mobilisation in this regard.

Mohammed also commended the media over the role they are playing in combating the pandemic.

He said that the fight against COVID-19 would have been made difficult without the role of the journalist.

“The fight against COVID-19 has been made difficult by fake news, so we are to rely on you journalists for accurate news,’’ he said.

He described journalists as the hero of COVID-19 pandemic, while calling on them not to relent until the virus is defeated.

The minister’s commendation is coming against the backdrop of the celebration of World Press Day, which was marked on May 1 across the world.

Mohammed said he had a sacred obligation to pay tribute to journalists on the world press freedom day.

Also, the minister of the Environment, Muhammad Mahmood said that the ministry was in the process of disinfecting public schools across the country so as to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mahmood said that the move became necessary as the school prepared to resume.

The minister added that the ministry had built capacity for continuous advocacy on the containment of COVID-19.