The Abuja Municipal Council has clarified that decontamination of business premises is advisory, not mandatory.

LEGALDESKNG Learnt that, this is contained in a Notice made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL) signed by Yahaya Ahmed Kana MNIM, the Director of Administration.

The Notice reads:

“This is to inform the general public that the notification given by the Council for the decontamination of business premises as a way of preventing the spread of Covid-19 is Advisory, not Mandatory.

“2. In view of this, owners of business premises have unlimited liberty and leverage to either carry out the decontamination exercise or not. Nobody should be forced.”

TNL recalls that a Nigerian businessman identified as Olagoke Balogun on the microblogging platform, Twitter, had come out to decry the treatment being meted on struggling businesses in Abuja by the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and Abuja Municipal Government.

Balogun who is the CEO of a popular restaurant, So Fresh, claimed that the council has asked his company to pay the sum of N250k or risk being sealed within the next three days. “This is the latest way AMAC and the Abuja Municipal Government are fleecing struggling business in Abuja. So Fresh is to pay N250,000 or risk being sealed within the next 3 days,” his tweet read.