The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has announced a lockdown in the cities of Lagos and Abuja in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The restrictions, which will start from 11pm local time (22:00 GMT) on Monday, will also apply to Ogun state, which borders Lagos.

The lockdown will take effect for an initial period of 14 days.

Mr Buhari said everybody would have to stay at home, all businesses and offices would have to close, and only food shops, hospitals and other essential service providers would remain open.

Full speech: "All citizens in these areas (Abuja, Lagos and Ogun) are to stay in their homes. Travel to or from other states should be postponed. All businesses and offices within these locations should be fully closed during this period. 

"For residents of satellite and commuter towns and communities around Lagos and Abuja whose livelihoods will surely be affected by some of these restrictive measures, we shall deploy relief materials to ease their pains in the coming weeks. 

"I have directed that a three month repayment moratorium for all TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni loans be implemented with immediate effect. 

"I want to assure you all that all Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies with a role to play in the outbreak response are working hard to bring this virus under control.

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"My fellow Nigerians, as a Government, we will avail all necessary resources to support the response and recovery. We remain committed to do whatever it takes to confront #COVID19 in our country. 

"We are fully aware that such measures will cause much hardship and inconvenience to many citizens. But this is a matter of life and death, if we look at the dreadful daily toll of deaths in Italy, France and Spain. 

Travel to or from other states will be banned. The president said a special fund of $40m (£32m) had been set aside to help deal with the pandemic.

Nigeria has recorded 97 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and one death.

Africa has not been hit as hard by the virus as most other continents, but the number of cases and deaths is on the rise.