The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered respect for journalists, medical personnel and other essential workers who are exempted from the eased restriction and curfews across the country.
Doctors and journalists were allegedly being harassed by security agents.
This had prompted the Nigerian Medical Association to call on its members to down tools.
Force spokesman DCP Frank Mba, in a statement on Wednesday, said the IGP had directed Zonal Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and State Command Commissioners of Police to give maximum effect to these orders and extend due courtesies to essential service providers so affected and also ensure that personnel deployed for the enforcement duties respect the fundamental rights of the citizens.
Mba stated: “The Force wishes to state that it is not oblivious of the sensitive, indispensable, patriotic and frontline role of the nation’s workforce that falls within the category of ‘Essential Service Providers’, particularly as it relates to efforts to curtail and contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To this effect, all essential workers, including medical personnel, ambulance service providers, journalists, firefighters, etc remain exempted from the movement restriction orders as well as the national curfew,” Mba said.
