Less Than 50% Comply With COVID-19 Safety Protocols In Oyo State – Official

Prof Olanike Adeyemo, the Team lead, Oyo State Containment and Decontamination Project, says less than 50 per cent of the population is complying with the COVID-19 protocols.

The state has recorded 2,935 confirmed by Thursday, August 13, 2020.

Adeyemo spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting on the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state in Ibadan.

The stakeholders included Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), of the Muslim community, Grand Sheik of Ibadanland, leaders of transportation sector, market leaders as well ethnic groups such as Igbo community, Igede community and Sabo community.

She said that the government had started community reporting that would name and shame violators of COVID-19 guidelines through the use of Geographical Information System (GIS).

She said the reason for bringing the stakeholders together was to show them that the compliance with COVID-19 safety protocols in the state was low. .

“And all the stakeholders present are leaders in their own right and we want them to know that they need to exert that influence over their network with a view to ensure compliance of all the preventive measures of COVID-19.

“His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, has done what he needs to do for the state. The responsibility now rests on us, the citizens, to do the needful.

“For a lot of banks with overwhelming crowds, the governor is not the one to fix their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) machines that are not functioning.

“If you go to most banks, you will find out that out of seven ATM machines one would be working to serve the people.

“There is a need for stakeholders to be responsible and that is why we are here. We actually extract commitment from them.

“And not only that, we have a compliance reporter, which is a citizen’s app for self-policing.

“What that will do is that we will know who to hold responsible. All the stakeholders must do everything they have to do for us to be safe,” she said.

Mr Mojeed Mogbonjubola, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, said the state was in the second phase of the pandemic

“Though they said they have discovered the vaccine but it has not been proven yet.

“But with what his excellency is doing in Oyo State, by expanding the containment team, which people have welcomed, we are taking people through the second phase whereby people are going to be the one enforcing the strict adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols by being their brother’s keeper,” he said.

Mogbonjubola said the government was not looking at sanctioning people but had engaged community reporting through the use of technology.

“There is going to be self-assessment, there would be no law enforcement agencies to drive compliance basically,” he said.

The Industry collaborator, Mr David Afolayan, who is the GIS expert and member of the containment team, said a community reporting app would make it possible for citizens to give feedbacks and report contravention of COVID-19 safety guidelines.

“The link is available on the Facebook page of the Oyo State COVID-19 Containment network.

“The app is easy to use as it works on phones, the people can report contravention and compliance as the case may be in their spheres.

“On the Facebook page and also on the portal, we have created the ‘Hall of Fame’ and ‘Hall of Shame’; so for those doing well we will celebrate them and for those not doing well they will be celebrated as well.

“We are already getting feedbacks across the state and we want everyone to key into this,” he said.

The Chairman, of CAN in Oyo State, Apostle Joshua Akinyemiju, said the association had set up a monitoring committee which would go round to ensure that members complied with the guidelines on COVID-19.

Akinyemiju, a retired colonel of the Nigerian Army, said such efforts would be intensified and sustained to curtail the spread of the virus.

“Recently, in our executive council meeting, we decided that to complement the government’s efforts in the containment of COVID-19. We are going to set up a monitoring committee in all the 33 local government areas of Oyo State to monitor the compliance with these guidelines in all our churches.

“I am sure in the next one week this monitoring committee will commence work and will work together with the state COVID-19 committee,” he said.

Mr Tojuade Adedoyin, the Chairman of NUT, said teachers in the state had supported the government by adhering to safety protocols of COVID-19 since schools reopened for exit classes.

“We, teachers, are playing our own complementary roles and it is on that note that we are now promising on behalf of all the teachers that we will continue to play our own role to curtail this pandemic.

“We are, however, appealing that this containment committee should help fumigate school premises and classrooms towards September 21 resumption of students and pupils in all public schools to ensure a safe environment for all,” Adedoyin said.

Pastor Kayode Adeyemi, President, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Oyo State said the association had trained over 5,000 trainers who in turn trained 100,000 members in support of the government’s efforts.

Oyo State government last week members of COVID-19 Containment Teams for the 33 local government areas and provided them equipment for the assignment.