10th April, 2020
By Taiwo Okanlawon
The Lagos State Government on Thursday held an inter-ministerial media briefing on COVID-19 at JJT Park, Alausa, where 10 members of the State cabinet briefed journalists about the ongoing activities in their ministries to curb the pandemic.
In his welcome address, the commissioner for information and strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso said the inter-ministerial briefing was designed to update residents on the efforts of the various ministries of government in the fight against the spread of the disease.
In his words, “It is meant to assure Lagosians that despite the threat posed by the pandemic, the people, saddled with the task of running the affairs of the state, have not stopped working.
“Besides reassuring Lagosians that the state is on top of this situation, it is also an opportunity to let the public know of the state government’s programmes, now and after we must have seen the back of the pandemic,” he added.
Giving an update on the activities of his ministry, the Health Commissioner, Professor Akin Abayomi, assured residents that the state was on course, in the fight against the spread of the disease.
According to him, the state had started preparing for such pandemic, about five years, when it started upgrading its medical facilities and honing the skills of its medical personnel, especially in the area of infectious disease treatments.
“Since five years ago, we knew an incident such as this would happen,. The only thing is that we didn’t know when. The Ebola incident, then, taught us some lessons, since it revealed our areas of strength and those areas that needed to be strengthened.
“That was why we had already instituted the Incident Command Structure, concerning the pandemic, even before the first case was recorded in Lagos,” he added.
Abayomi, further disclosed that the ministry has taken 67 Nigerians coming from Ivory Coast into a quarantine facility in Badagry where they will be kept for 14 days.
He added that Lagos was monitoring closely movement into the state as about 10 percent of the 172 Nigerians who returned from Ivory Coast penultimate week tested positive to Coronavirus.
“We’ll test them, if they’re positive, we’ll move them into one of our Isolation Wards in Lagos and if they’re negative, we’ll allow them to continue on their way to Osun State which is where they originated from.
“We are also watching movements closely so as not to increase the number of imported cases in the state,” ,” the Commissioner said.
On management of COVID-19 corpses, Abayomi said that officials from the Ministries of Health and Environment had been trained to specially prepare such bodies before handing them over to their families for burial.
This is to ensure that “the family members were not at risk of being infected by their loved ones.
“Even when people die of Coronavirus, it doesn’t mean that the virus has died. The corpse is still infectious,” the commissioner said.
On the use of face masks, the commissioner said that “only sealed N95 masks, which covers entire face and filters air breathing, could protect from contracting Coronavirus.
“If you wear ordinary masks or anything else, they’re not protecting you from COVID-19,” the commissioner said.
Abayomi said that the three Isolation Centres in Lagos State located in Yaba, Onikan and Lagos University Teaching Hospital had 280 bed capacity, 100 of which were already occupied by COVID-19 patients.
According to the commissioner, two new Isolation Centres, with about 150 beds, would be ready next week at Gbagada General Hospital and Landmark in Victoria Island.
He assured residents of the state government’s commitment to ensuring that the spread of the virus is curtailed, and normal activities restored in no time.
- Govt to prioritise employment, agriculture and other sectors
Speaking about government measures to cushion the effect of the Coronavirus pandemic on the state economy, Commissioner for Budget & Planning, Sam Egube said the the government was engaging with various stakeholders in the state to know the best line of action to take in this new budget re-direction.
He declared that the governor has shown significant leadership in implementing his economic strategies even as the Coronavirus pandemic has put a strain on economic activities in the State.
In his own contribution, the Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, said the national economy felt the impact of thetwin-shock occasioned by the falling prices of oil in the international market and freezing of revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Olowo disclosed that the State Government had granted three months moratorium on accrued principal and interest payment on loans granted to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Entrepreneurs byLagos State Employment Trust Funds (LSETF).
“Those who have loans currently running with the LSETF have been given three months moratorium by the State Government for principals and interests to ensure that these small businesses that generated jobs are not hit by crisis.
“We will also be raising the capacity of LSETF to support the SMEs with capital that will act as a shock absorber and give necessary incentives to enable them mitigate the impacts. This plan is for a period after the battle would have been won against COVID-19,” Oluwo explained.
Admitting that the State revenue had been greatly affected by under-performance of businesses occasioned by the lockdown, Olowo said it would be premature to evaluate the State’s loss at the present time.
The Finance Commissioner also stated the Government had apportioned all donations it received from private sector and Federal Government transparently, stressing that all funds received in support of Coronaviruswill be fully accounted for.
- Stimulus Food Relief Programme for 200,000 households
On his part, Commissioner for Agriculture, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, noted that the introduction of Stimulus Food Relief Programme for the vulnerable people deployed in the state has ensured that the poor and vulnerable are catered for.
He assured that the 200,000 house hold target set for the palliative measure will be met in the first tranche.
Dismissing misinformation about the scheme, Lawal explained that the State engaged Community Development Associations (CDAs) to distribute the food items, and not politicians or Local Government Chairmen.
He confirmed that the second phase of the food scheme took off early Thursday to reach aged beneficiaries registered with LASRRA, adding that irregularitiesobserved in the first phase had been addressed.
Lawal said the State Government had created direct jobs for 600 individuals employed in centres where the relief package items were produced, asserting that the economies of other States were boosted as their farmers supplied produce packaged for distribution to the aged, vulnerable and physically-challenged.
In his address, Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello stated that agencies under the purview of the Ministry, especially LAWMA, was mandated to ensure the evacuation of waste across the State during the lockdown.
“We ensured that PSP operators go around Lagos to prevent the accumulation of waste within the metropolis during the lockdown and ensure the environment is kept clean and healthy,” Bello said.
He maintained that despite the fumigation being undertaken across local governments and some bus stops within the State, plans are in place for massive disinfection of all the highways across the State.
Bello also affirmed that the cleaning of all drainage channels in Lagos is ongoing to take advantage of the dry season before the rainy season commences fully.
- E – Learning
The commissioner for Education, Folashade Adefisayo, disclosed that the state government in partnership with First Bank Plc would be rolling out one million educational devices to support students learning at home pending the resumption of schools.
Adefisayo noted that there were also radio education programmes that the state government has put in place to ensure that students in the state continue to learn during the holiday occasioned by the pandemic.