COVID 19: Fear As Sanwo-Olu Mulls Fresh Lock Down

By Tosin Olatokunbo

Apprehension over another round of lock down in Lagos state has forced residents to stock their homes with essential food items to avoid shortages.

Major and neighbourhood markets were on Saturday and Sunday flooded by residents who are not prepared to face food scarcity.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu had yesterday, during the   daily press briefing on COVID 19, warned residents to adhere strictly to safety guidelines, failure which the state will be forced to re-impose the stay at home order.

Before partially lifting the six weeks lock down, last Monday, Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu outlined some safety measures to be followed by all residents in the state.

These include social distancing and use of face or nose masks in all public places.

Others include the directive to commercial buses and tricycles operators to reduce the numbers of passengers in their vehicles.

But, Governor Sanwo-Olu has now lamented the indiscriminate disobedience of residents to the directives.

As a responsible government which prizes the welfare citizens, he said the administration could no longer watch its directives being flouted, that except there is a change in attitude, a new lock down order is in the pipeline.

According to him, “If we do not see an improvement in the next couple of days, we would be forced to evoke the very painful decision of bringing the entire system under a lockdown again.

I’m aware that the Presidential Task Force has also made this point and very importantly that the continued maintenance of this ease is only guaranteed when people consistently comply. Let the numbers we have seen this week stand as a warning to all of us because we are monitoring and checking this on a daily basis.

We all must take responsibility, which is what this time demands of us. Government will not shy away from its own responsibilities.”

The governor said the behaviors of residents in public places such as banks, markets, malls and bus stop did not show responsibility on their part to assist the government in containing the spread of COVID 19.

He said commercial bus drivers, particularly have been known to disobey the social distancing order, while compliance in market places have been below average

He said “The yellow buses scored below average but we are working with them. We are certainly not happy with their level of compliance and we are hoping that in the few days ahead we will see significant improvement.”

“I have also given strict instruction to the police to confiscate motorcycles defying this order,” he added, noting that the ban on interstate travel remained active.”

Meanwhile, some residents who spoke with the magazine said the state cannot afford a total lock down a second time because of the untold hardship it will bring on the businesses and social life.

For instance, the initial lock down has caused among others, food shortages, inflation and crimes, they said, adding that another stay could lead to total breakdown of peace and order in the state.

another stay -at-home-order could further lead to a spike in essential food items, taking them beyond the reach of the most vulnerable, analysts have warned.