The Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, has charged the Executive Governor of Oyo state, Engr. Seyi Makinde to lockdown the state for an initial 14 days and provide every household with 50,000 as financial support.
SPN disclosed this in a press statement dated 7th of April, signed by the secretary of the party in the state, Ayodeji Adigun, made available to OYOINSIGHT.COM
“While we cannot completely rule out the fact that the curfew to an extent might have helped to limit some kinds of interactions among the people, however, the truth is that most of the economic activities responsible for most of the social interaction that could have helped to encourage further spread of COVID-19 among the people actually take place during the day time.
“It is in the light of this, we of the SPN hereby believe that the most effective way to limit social interaction at this time is by declaring a lockdown of the state for 14 days in the first instance with the provision of financial support which we earlier proposed to be N50, 000 for every household.
“We insist on this, given how the Oyo state government and it’s officials have by their indiscretion and conducts heightened the possibility that hundreds of people in the state might have been infected with the virus,” the statement read.
The party added that during the lockdown, essential services like markets, pharmacies and chemist shops, hospitals, banks/ATMs, petrol stations, electricity and water companies, food processing companies, etc. should be allowed to operate and these workers must be provided with protective gears, special hazard allowance and life insurance.
The party also demanded the creation of a window of opportunity during the lockdown for citizens to access these essential services.
According to the statement, “This can take the form of relaxation of movement restriction for at least 6 hours following every 24 hours of total lockdown. This relaxation can take place between the hours of 7 am and 2 pm every alternate day during which citizens can go to ATMs to withdraw money and go to markets and pharmacies to get essential supplies.”
It also noted that a lockdown may not have been necessary if the state government had been proactive right from the beginning and Governor Makinde and his henchmen had not carried on as if nothing was amiss and in the process endangered the people of the State.
