- Embarks 0n Assessment of Business Readiness
- Infected Government House Staffers Have Recovered – Governor
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos is beginning to consider the full re-opening of the critical sectors of its economy in order to salvage the increasing economic impact of the virus in the state.
Governor Sanwo-Olu announced this while addressing journalists after after the State’s Security Council meeting held at the State House in Marina on Sunday saying the state would not take the action in a hurry rather, it would be assessing the readiness of stakeholders in the identified sectors.
The governor also announced that ten of the State House workers who were infected with the virus have now tested negative.
He stated that before the full re-opening, officials from the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC) and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) will be visiting restaurants, companies, religious houses to assess their level of readiness.
“With the size of the State’s economy and numbers of businesses that operate in its domain, the Governor said the Government could not afford to keep people and businesses on lockdown permanently.
“We are at a level where we are reviewing the other arms of the economy. In the coming days, we will be starting what we call Register-to-Open, which means all players in the restaurant business, event centres, entertaiment, malls and cinemas will go through a form of re-registration and space management.
“There is a regulation that will be introduced to supervise this move. We will be coming to their facilities to assess their level of readiness for a future opening. I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead, but we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their work spaces need to look like.
“For us, it is not to say they should re-open fully tomorrow or any time; there has be a process guiding the re-opening. We will be mandating LASEPA and Safety Commission to begin the enumeration process and the agencies will be communicating with all relevant businesses and houses in the days ahead. I must, however, caution that this should not be misinterpreted as a licence for full opening; it is certainly not. The State’s economy is not ready for that now.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu said the Government agencies also would be visiting places of worship to evaluate their level of preparedness ahead of full reopening. He stressed that social distancing and hygiene would be fully considered in determining whether mosques and churches can re-open in the future.
“We are reviewing and considering how the phased unlocking will happen. If we see huge level of compliance, then it can happen in the next two to three weeks. If not, it could take a month or two months. It is until we are sure all of these players are ready to conform to our guidelines,” the Governor asserted.
Ten Government House Staff Recover from COVID-19
Ten staff of the Lagos State Government House who tested positive to the virus have recovered after isolation and quarantine.
They have also resumed at their respective duty posts.
Governor Sanwo-Olu said it is imperative to inform the public in order to promote transparency and accountability in the state’s management of the virus.
“The disclosure was necessary to further promote transparency in the reporting and management of coronavirus cases by the State Government,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu enjoined banks and markets to strictly enforce orderliness in their premises.
He directed that elderly people must be given the priority to transact their businesses in bank and markets between 9am and 10:30am, after which other younger customers should be allowed to transact.
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