Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Worship centres and businesses have been given conditions for them to reopen amid coronavirus pandemic.
Lagos State government has revealed that businesses and worship centres will soon reopen if they meet certain conditions.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, raised the hope on Sunday. Sanwo-Olu said pending when those conditions are met, “the status quo will remain.”
The state, which is the epicenter of the virus in the country, has
been under lockdown and lately restrictions and curfew, to prevent the
spread of Coronavirus.
The governor spoke at the Government House in Marina during an update on the state of affairs with the management of COVID-19.
He said: “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 said
From this week, he added, work would proceed fast towards reopening
of the state’s economy adding that the government would embark on what
he described as “Register to open.”
As the government is weighing the options, on the next line of
action, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries, (LCCI), unveiled
the report of a survey it conducted on the effect of the lockdown on the
economy of the state.
The report indicates that 81per cent of businesses have been
“severely affected” by the COVID-19 lockdown with a mere 17 per cent
indicating moderate impact on their business.
Sanwo-Olu, who announced that the 10 Government House workers who
tested positive for Coronavirus had all been discharged and back at
their duty posts, further explained how the reopening process would be.
“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 been a process guiding the re-opening. We will be
mandating Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC) and Lagos State
Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) 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.
“Similarly, places of worship we would be going and working
with them as much as possible to see their level of preparedness
ensuring that we keep as much space, in the event that we will be
unlocking them in future”
Although the governor did not give specific time for the lifting of
the lockdown, he however said it could be two, three weeks to one month
time.
He said there would be a gradual phasing off of the lockdown
because the economy of the state cannot be shut down for too long; but
that “there has to be a process towards unlocking the whole place.”
Business hitherto excluded from the easing of the lockdown in the
past one week, like hospitality, events, entertainment, malls etc, will
re-register to open, a process that will enable the government to
ascertain their level of preparedness for reopening in a few weeks.
The government, he said, will visit religious houses to determine
their level of preparedness and compliance with social distancing
regulation and use of facemask and other precautionary measures as the
lockdown is being gradually phased out.
Sanwo-Olu said officials from the LSSCLASEPA will be visiting
restaurants, companies, religious houses to assess their level of
readiness.
“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 been a process guiding the
re-opening.
According to him, the government had seen some encouraging levels
of compliance at the open and food markets which needs to be improved
upon while the contrary is the case with the yellow buses and interstate
movements which he said the government would be looking into.
Sanwo-Olu said his government has approved special preference for
the elderly of 60 years and above, beginning from this week, to be
attended to in the banking halls, shopping malls and open shop between
the hours of 9am to 10.30am before others will be allowed in to transact
their businesses.
Businesses and worship centres must:
- A register to open must be filled
- Inspection of business facilities
- Visitation to religious centres to determine compliance
- Hospitality, Events, Entertainment, Malls to re-register
- LASEPA and LSSC to communicate with all businesses
No comments:
Post a Comment