Wale Jagun
Less than 24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari in a nationwide broadcast extended lockdown in Lagos, Ogun State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced bumper palliatives to cushion the effects of the cessation of movements to contain te spread of Coronavirus.
The governor during a briefing that followed Security Council meeting held at the State House in Marina, on Tuesday, disclosed plan to embark on a programme, tagged: “Food Kitchen” aimed at feeding 100,000 youths daily.
According to Sanwo-Olu, “Today, I am pleased to announce additional palliatives for our citizens to further ameliorate the inconvenience occasioned by this extended lockdown.
“In the next couple of days, we will commence a daily ‘Food Kitchen’ programme with the target to feed about 100,000 people daily. This will largely target the youths.
He also granted three months moratorium to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and entrepreneurs that got repayable loans from Lagos State Employment Trust Funds (LSETF), deferring the payment of accruing interests by the loan beneficiaries.
Sanwo-Olu also ordered immediate release of all private and commercial vehicles impounded from March 1, 2020 for minor traffic offences by the police, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and Vehicle Inspection Agency to date.
The Governor said the new palliatives were carefully drawn out to bring succour to greater number of indigent people and those eking out living from daily wages.
He said: “Before the first set of stay-at-home directives, I announced a welfare package for the indigent and vulnerable segment of the society. Though we encountered some hitches along the way, we have since revised the process and have now seen a mark of improvement in the distribution of the relief packages that is being carried out in a dignifying manner and in full compliance with all public health directives and guidelines.
“We are also cleaning up our data from our various social registers to get a clean list of truly vulnerable and economically challenged persons to enable us remit some cash to them. We aim to do these cash transfers by the end of the week to a minimum of 250,000 indigent citizens.
“All the MSMEs and SMEs that took LSETF loans and got supports from other Government’s financial incentive programme will enjoy a three months moratorium.
“With immediate effect, I have ordered the police, LASTMA and the VIO to release all impounded vehicles arrested for minor traffic offences from the 1st of March. All these palliative measures, we believe, will further help to cushion the effect of the lack of economic activities in the State occasioned by the lockdown.”
Sanwo-Olu shared the successes recorded in the medical palliative introduced by the State Government earlier this month, disclosing that the State footed the medical bills of over 18,000 people who accessed free medical services at all 67 Grade “A” primary health and secondary healthcare centres.
He added that Lagos recorded over 600 childbirths, of which the costs were free of charge.
The Governor urged for calm among residents, saying the additional 14 days extension would afford the frontline health workers to ramp up contact identification, testing, isolation and admission of suspected and confirmed cases.
