Coronavirus Lockdown…Two-week Extension Was a Tough Decision, Says Sanwo-Olu

Dear Lagosians, yesterday H.E President Muhammadu Buhari announced a two-week extension of the lockdown. This was a tough decision but like we have seen in countries that couldn’t stop the spread of COVID-19, the effects have been catastrophic. My biggest focus now is security and welfare.

On security, there have been reports of pockets of insecurity across different areas and intelligence has shown a combination of exploitation by criminal elements. The police have been responsive but in the last 24 hours we have worked to increase surveillance and response time.

On welfare, the second half of the first phase of our reformed #LagosFoodRelief distribution which is targeted at the vulnerable is on course. The federal government’s conditional cash transfer has also begun to help reduce the burden and we are working on doing more.

We are encouraged by the success rate of our isolation and treatment initiatives for COVID-19. Working with the Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control  and the Lagos State Ministry of Health, testing capacity for COVID-19 has increased and we will continue to do all we can to stop the spread of the virus.

As a state, we understand that this lockdown will stretch us because of some structural problems we are contending with, however I want to thank Lagosians for rising up with empathy and strength. We have to do more and the government will do more, let’s beat COVID-19 together.

Signed
Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Lagos State Governor and Lagos COVID-19 Incident Commander