Oyo State Secretariat will be reopened on Monday April 27th 2020.

PRESS BRIEFING BY GOVERNOR SEYI MAKINDE, HEAD OF THE COVID-19 TASK FORCE IN OYO STATE, ON APRIL 25, 2020

Good evening and thank you for joining me.

We just finished the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force meeting. Here are some of the decisions which we took.

The State Secretariat will be reopened on Monday April 27th 2020. Only civil servants at level 13 and above with separate offices will resume.

The following guidelines are in place to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 within the State Secretariat;

1. There will be new security measures in place including having only one gate to serve as entrance and exit. All other gates will be closed.

2. All meetings will be held online.

3. No visitors are allowed except absolutely necessary.

4. There will be hand washing facilities in strategic locations around the secretariat.

5. One 100ml hand sanitizer & face mask will be given to each officer.

6. Bush canteens around the secretariat will remain closed. Officers are encouraged to bring their own food for lunch.

Posters and banners will be in conspicuous places around the secretariat to revalidate guidelines for resumption.

The dusk to dawn curfew in Oyo State, will be relaxed from 7 PM - 6 AM, to 7 PM - 5 AM, to accommodate farmers, this planting season. The farmers are being sensitised on how they can stay safe as they farm during this period.
COVID-19 compliant guidelines will be provided for markets, including hand washing facilities at strategic places and wearing of face masks. Only markets which meet up with these guidelines will be allowed to reopen.

Let me use this opportunity to commend the Minister for Health, Dr E O Ehanire, for the work they are doing at the national level to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federal Ministry of Health is decentralising the accreditation of isolation/treatment centres to state level so that it can be quicker and more efficient.

Based on this, the Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan will be working with the Commissioner for Health in Oyo State, Dr Bello, to set up a five-person accreditation team. UCH will also nominate someone to join the COVID-19 Task Force.

The palliatives to be provided by the Oyo State Government are now ready and will be distributed next week. Based on our data, they will be distributed to 90,000 households identified as the poorest of the poor and 30,000 targeted vulnerable households.

The Oyo State Government will start taking delivery of the one million face masks being produced from tomorrow. These face masks will be distributed for free to market men and women, artisans and civil servants.

Finally, the patient at Agbami Chest Centre, Jericho will be moved to the Infectious Disease Centre, Olodo. This will allow us to upgrade the facilities at Agbami.

I thank the people of Oyo State for their cooperation and advise them to keep following the directives of the Task Force on COVID-19 in Oyo State.