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COVID-19: Lagos issues new guidelines, considers full reopening of economy
The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has issued new guidelines that will help guarantee the safety of residents and contain the spread of the virus as the state begins the second phase of the gradual easing of the lockdown.
This was disclosed by the governor on Sunday May 18, 2020, during a press briefing on the next steps to be taken in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
In his speech, Sanwo-Olu said that the Lagos State Government was considering fully re-opening the economy just as it would embark on assessment of the readiness of businesses.
As part of the guidelines, Lagos will be rolling out a ‘register to open’ initiative, as part of the plans that will enable it assess the level of readiness of the players in the identified sectors for supervised operations.
The Governor said that officials from the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC) and Lagos State Environment Protection Agency (LASEPA) would be visiting restaurants, companies, and religious houses to assess their levels of readiness.
He said, “We are at a level where we are reviewing the other arms of the economy. In the coming days, we will be starting what we call Register-to-Open, which means all players in the restaurant business, event centers, entertainment, malls, and cinemas will go through a form of re-registration and space management.”
“There is a regulation that will be introduced to supervise this move. We will be coming to their facilities to assess their level of readiness for a future opening. I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead, but we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their workspaces need to look like,” the governor said.
Going further, the governor said, “There is a regulation that will be introduced to supervise this move. We will be coming to their facilities to assess their level of readiness for a future opening. I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead, but we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their workspaces need to look like.”