Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George has called for an end to the lockdown in Lagos, saying the lockdown is “breeding a hunger virus.”
Daily Trust reports that Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the state has been on lockdown for almost a month in a measure to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
It would be recalled that the state was on a partial shutdown for one week before the Federal Government imposed 14-day lockdown which was extended for another 14 days.
With over 500 cases of confirmed infection and Lagos being the epicenter of the virus, there are fears that the lockdown might be extended.
But George who is the Atona of Yorubaland, said government must begin to ease the restriction and provide measures for effective containment of the spread of the virus.
According to him, while the lockdown was to “ensure safety, prevent communal spread of the virus and banish this scourge from our shores,” both the state and the federal organs have not provided effective ameliorative measures to cushion the effect of the shutdown for the past one month that the shutdown has been in place.
“In a largely informal economy where most of our people depend on daily wages, the burden of lack of an income is devastating,” he stressed.
He said, “There is a natural growing anger in Lagos as the most vulnerable are ravaged with hunger. Our youths are getting restless, pushed onto the streets because they are famished. Others have strayed into sheer banditry, terrorizing homes, breaking into shops and robbing people.
“And yet others have resorted to putting all kinds of sinister audio messages in the social media threatening rapine and murder.
Surely, we cannot continue like this. You cannot lockdown down millions of people without necessary palliatives to ease the dysfunction which this scourge has inflicted upon our country.”
He suggested that Lagos “must be gradually eased out of this shutdown with comprehensive safety measures,” saying, “there is a need for the expansion of the testing centers to ensure that the virus is appropriately contained especially among the asymptomatic population who may spread the virus without knowing that they are infected.”
“Enough of the shutdown. Open up the essential services. Step up the safety measures and let us all return to some semblance of normalcy,” the PDP leader advised.
