Lagos rebuts curfew, announces 14-day relief package for 200,000 households

THE governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has announced an economic relief package to help residents cushion the effects of the ‘stay-at-home’ directives by the government against the spread of coronavirus in the state.

This was disclosed by the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Saturday in Alausa stating that the economic stimulus package for the first phase will target 200,000 households at an average of 6 people per household. The governor assured that the targeted number will be increased rapidly.

“I am happy to announce am economic stimulus package to help our residents cushion the effects of our ‘Stay-at-home’ directive to stop the spread of Covid-19.

“Our first phase is targeting 200,000 households at an estimation of 6 people per household. We hope to ramp it up quickly”, Sanwo-Olu said.

The governor explained that the stimulus package will contain bags of rice, beans, garri, bread, dry pepper, drinking water and vitamins, and each ration is targeted to last for 14 days as while the government continues to evaluate the control of the virus.

It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved an immediate release of a N10 billion (Ten billion Naira) grant to the Lagos state which has remained the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in Nigeria to enable the state to tackle the challenge without hurdles.

Governor Sanwo-Olu added that the state’s covid-19 advocacy team has been empowered with more vehicles to aid information dissemination to all parts of the state as ignorance is not an excuse.

On the rumours from some quarters over a curfew in the state from Monday 30 March, the authorities rebutted the allegations stating that the government has not placed the state under any curfew, however appealed to residents to consciously stay safe and comply with directives by authorities stating that from the news around the world, the virus is no respecter of persons.