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By Samuel Adegoke
Governor Seyi Makinde has revealed that he is not in a hurry to reopen schools and worship centres in Oyo State. He said reopening will be based on advice from experts to avoid jeopardizing the gains of the past and plunging the state into a needless public health crisis. He said such decision will be premised on positive risk situation analysis currently being carried out by experts.
His declaration will hurt thousands of religious leaders who have been waiting anxiously for his plans to reopen worship centres based on the experience of neighbouring Osun and Lagos states.
This is coming as the governor also said the State Security Network codenamed ‘Opeation Amotekun’ will begin operation in the next one month following the screening and confirmation of the retired Brigadier General Ajibola Togun and retired Colonel Bisiriyu Olayanju as Chairman and Commander of the Corps respectively by the State Assembly.
The Governor gave the hint while delivering his “State of the State Address” during a special plenary to commemorate the first anniversary of the Ninth Sate House of Assembly.
The session which was also attended by top government functionaries, was presided over by the Speaker of the house, Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin.
Reeling out his achievements in the last one year particularly in line with his four-point “Roadmap for Accelerated Development in Oyo State, 2019-2023”, Makinde emphasized his efforts at fighting the novel coronavirus, saying the state has ranked high with the over 3,500 tests conducted so far since the first recorded case in March.
He said: “To be fair, the first year in office for every administration is always used to plan and set things in motion. But in most cases, when the people have voted massively for ideological change, they are in a hurry to see the resolution of issues that affect them. There is pressure to hit the ground running and set the ball rolling. “I can report to you that these expectations are not lost on us, which is why, from the outset, we built our Roadmap for Accelerated Development in Oyo State 2019-2023 around four pillars: Economy, Education, Healthcare and Security.”Permit me, therefore, to present a situation report that encompasses these key areas.
“Economic indices published by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for April-May, 2020, showed that with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, 92% of households felt a “substantial or moderate threat” to their household finances.
“This figure is 18 percent higher than 78 percent of households who reported they were “very or somewhat worried” about them or a family member becoming seriously ill from contracting coronavirus. This 18 percent may seem insignificant but 18 percent in a state like Oyo State with a population of over seven million people is over one million people.
“I have decided to lead the report on the economy with this statistic because some persons have been worried about the Oyo State Government’s response to COVID-19. I have repeated, every time I have had an opportunity, that our response has been based on science, data and logic. We have been careful to ensure that our response to this pandemic does not create more problems than the pandemic itself.
“And so, aside from effecting a partial lockdown, our administration played our part to grow the economy by consistently paying salaries/pensions for March, April and May even though, most of the civil servants have been away from work.
“I want to use this opportunity to thank you, honourable members of these hallowed chambers, for the sacrifice you made in supporting us in meeting these obligations by taking a 30 percent cut in your monthly allocations.
“Meanwhile, we have conducted over 3,500 tests in the state, placing us in the top four highest testing states in Nigeria. Just yesterday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), approved a second diagnostic laboratory for testing for COVID-19 in the state. We now have the Biorepository and Clinical Virology Lab in the University College Hospital, Ibadan. We can now get results even faster.
“Education continues to be one of the best ways to fight poverty and improve our economy. We are aware that having the right infrastructure for education is a necessity. For this reason, we completed hundreds of infrastructural projects in the last year.
“Yet, you will agree with me that one of the areas that suffered under the COVID-19 climate is the education sector. Schools were among the first places to be shut down and will be among the last to be re-opened. We are concerned that our children are not learning.
“Even though, we have put in place the School-on-Air programme, the reality is that a combination of factors, including inadequate power supply and not owning necessary devices and other infrastructure, is affecting its effectiveness. We want our children to go back to school, but we cannot do that without mapping the transmission of the coronavirus in our communities.
“This is why ramping up testing, as we are now doing, especially in communities outside Ibadan is necessary. So far, we are testing in ten additional local government areas across the state. We have projected a July 15 date for the resumption of schools. But that date is dependent on the risk situation analysis presently being carried out by the experts.
“For this same reason, we have held off from reversing our directive on religious gatherings. We saw what happened when a private organisation did not follow the advisories we provided to the letter. Over 50 percent of COVID-19 cases in Oyo State can be traced to this organisation. So, I take this opportunity to again plead with our religious leaders to be patient with us. We are keeping our eyes on the numbers and will adjust this directive at the right time.”
On Amotekun, the governor said: “We are constituting the Amotekun Corps which, as you are aware, will complement the efforts of the federal security forces in securing our state. Within the next one month, they will be fully operational. I want to also at this point, commend the moves by this legislature to review the laws on rape and sexual assault. We all know that one of the best ways to address any type of crime is to strengthen the legislation around it.
“On our part, we will do well to enforce the laws as directed by the Judiciary. All the arms of government must continue to show zero tolerance for sexual violence. Only in this way will we honour those who have been victims of these heinous crimes and ensure that the rest of the population are protected.”