Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has set up a committee that will develop guidelines for a safe reopening of schools for students at the final year or transition classes in the State, following the directive of the Federal government for them to resume and write their examination.
Abiodun in a statement by Kunle Somorin, his Media Aide, said the committee will work with stakeholders in the discharge of its tasks.
“Schools are to remain shut. A committee has been set up to engage all stakeholders – public and private school owners – and develop Guidelines for a safe reopening of our schools, especially to allow certificate classes to resume and write their examinations.”
The Governor also said the state will monitor the situation arising from the recent lifting of the ban on interstate travels by the federal government to determine its impact on the COVID-19 situation and will not hesitate to make appropriate adjustment, in consultation with the federal government.
Abiodun stressed that the state government will continue to be deliberate, cautious, focused and balanced in its approach and place highest priority on public safety over and above any other consideration in its efforts to flatten the curve of the dreaded COVID-19 virus in the State.
Abiodun noted that available data and opinions of experts continue to indicate that the fight against the virus is far from being won.
“A total number of 4,072 people have been tested out of which 898 tested positive. Amongst the positive cases, 609 have been successfully treated and discharged. Sadly, there have been a total of 19 deaths with 270 active cases. One of our border Local Governments is one of the Local Governments with the highest number of cases in the country because of the level of testing.
“This high level of prevalence may also be obtainable in other Local Governments as we ramp up testing.
“All these emphasize the need for us to exercise high level of restraint as the State can neither afford more fatalities or allow the rate of sickness to outnumber the capacity to manage the sick.
“Consequently, we are extending our current Phase of eased restrictions for another two weeks. As usual, we will continuously review and modify the guidelines in response to data from the field and expert opinions.”
