Coronavirus: Ogun state relaxes lockdown, Governor Abiodun explains details

- Ogun state government has pledged to comply with the federal government on coronavirus lockdown extension

- Governor Dapo Abiodun made this known on Tuesday, April 14, in a statement issued by his media aide

- Abiodun, however, relaxed the lockdown in the state for some days to allow the residents to buy the needed items

Following President Buhari's order to extend coronavirus lockdown by another 14 days, the Ogun state government has pledged to ensure compliance with the directive.

Premium Times reports that this was announced by Governor Dapo Abiodun in a press statement issued by his chief press secretary, Kunle Somorin, and made available to journalists on the evening of Tuesday, April 14.

Legit.ng gathered that it declared that effective from Saturday, April 18, it was going to be ‘total lockdown’ in the state.

The governor commended President Buhari for providing the necessary leadership especially for the federal government’s efforts to combat the deadly coronavirus in the country.

Abiodun enjoined the citizens and residents of the state to endure the 14-day extension of the lockdown in the state and consider it a “necessary sacrifice to defeat an invisible and deadly enemy that requires its victims as unwitting vectors of its deadly venom.”

He said: “We must deny the virus the vital supply chain required to decimate humanity by complying with all the social distancing measures and maintaining personal hygiene. I remain committed in its twin-responsibility of protecting lives and properties in the state and ensuring the welfare of the citizens.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unusual challenge to strike a delicate balance of need for public safety and welfare of the citizenry. Therefore, the current window of relaxation of the lockdown in the state from 7.00 am to 2.00 pm, which follows the same pattern of last week, will still be available for this Wednesday, April 15 and Friday, April 17, only.

“This is to allow the residents to prepare for the extension of the lockdown and restock on food and other essential items. However, Ogun state borders remain closed. It should be emphasised that people should only go out if they need to and are required at all times when outside their homes to wear a face mask, including locally made face masks, even as they observe other social distancing measures."

He also announced that the distribution mechanism of the state’s relief materials has been fine-tuned to make it more effective and efficient in the delivery to the target population of the elderly, the poor and vulnerable.

The statement added that the new mechanism has incorporated the learning from the experience of the first phase and it reassured the citizens that the materials would get to the deserving households.

The statement said the relief items have so far been distributed to over 60,000 households of the elderly, the poor and vulnerable in the state, covering about 300,000 individuals and the next phase of distribution to additional 80,000 households of estimated 400,000 people across the 236 wards will commence soon.

The governor thanked the security agencies for moving swiftly to curtail the nefarious activities around the border communities with Lagos and promptly arresting over 150 suspects.

“The law enforcement agents have been directed to deal ruthlessly with anyone taking advantage of the pandemic to engage in any form of criminal activity,” he stated.

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Ogun, as well as Lagos and the FCT, are the three states President Buhari ordered a lockdown in to check the spread of coronavirus. Lagos and the FCT account for about 70% of Nigeria’s coronavirus cases while Ogun was selected due to its proximity to Lagos.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported that there are 19 new cases of coronavirus in Nigeria.

The NCDC via its official Twitter account on Tuesday, April 14, made this known.

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Source: Legit.ng