Oyo state government has explained the reason behind its decision to begin the decontamination of the state with the State Secretariat among other places in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
Noting that the decontamination effort will not be as done in many places, the state government said it would only decontaminate places where there is record or report of victims of the virus.
Governor Seyi Makinde made the clarification on Monday at the Governor’s Office Car Park, venue of the flag off of the three day decontamination exercise of the entire state Secretariat.
The effort according to the government is to herald the resumption of the state workforce slated for Monday, April 20, after a three week stay off work by the workers.
Justifying the decision on the approach to the decontamination, Governor Makinde who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Olubanwo Adeosun said the government is following experts advise not to just hit the streets with ‘chemicals’ all in the name of decontamination, especially when all the protocols being followed are still helping contain the spread of the virus in the state.
The flag off was also attended by the State Chairman of the Decontamination and Containment Committee of Covid-19 Task Force, Prof Olanike Adeyemo, State commissioner of health, Dr Bashir Bello, Governor Makinde’s Chief of Staff, Chief Bisi Ilaka, Chief Press Secretary, Mr Taiwo Adisa, Special Adviser (Media), Mr Jide Ajani among others.
Mrs Adeosun said, “Like I said earlier, the decontamination will be done as advised by the experts. It will be done specifically and as advised by the technical team named Decontamination, containment task force that is looking at the current process and they have advised that we lead by example.
“If you have been following news on the virus, the exact lifespan of the virus is not clear. There are speculations that it could live for hours and another speculation that it will live for days.
“To be safe, we are leading by example by decontaminating the state secretariat and thereafter we will go to specific organisations and ask them to also decontaminate their organisations.
“The decontamination is also more effective in close spaces. So, the plan of how to decontaminate open spaces is yet to be rolled out yet, what we are focusing on right now is open spaces where we have identified some risks the virus might be present or that we need to ensure that the space is safe.
“As soon as we are done with the secretariat, the Task Force will be reaching out to various organisation, they already have a procedure and protocol to be adopted for reaching out to them to advise them on what to do.
“We are leading this process by example, by decontaminating the secretariat. I have been told that while the chemicals that are used are safe chemicals, but we should not use them carelessly. The Team are very specific about where needs to be decontaminated.
“This is one of the many activities and measures that are taken to contain Covid-19 in Oyo state. As you have heard from Governor Seyi Makinde severally, there are many guidelines that have been given to us that are been followed. We have heard a lot about social distancing and other hygiene precautions in containing the spread.”
Speaking in the same vein, Prof Adeyemo said, the indication that necessitated the decontamination of the state secretariat was the initial infection of the governor.
She said “The indication for the Secretariat itself is the Governor. The decontamination is not what you do generally, what I mean by that is that you might see some states where they might take it to the markets, to the streets, but I want to clarify that when we decontaminate, we are using chemicals and in the wisdom of Governor Seyi Makinde, he has sort expert advise and one of the things that he was advised is that, unless there is an indication. An indication is somebody testing positive to Covid-19, but we can do preventive fumigation.
“But, the way our market structures are right now, it doesn’t make sense unless there is an absolute indication. Let me give you an example, if you go to Bodija market; is it the same way that they have markets in US or Canada that we have market in Ibadan?
“If you go there, spray their garri and rice and then tomorrow somebody has stomach ache, not because of Covid-19 but because you have come to spray chemicals there.
“So, for now, because we don’t have an epidemic and we pray we don’t have. If you look at the trend, you can see that it is a bit contained in Oyo state. In the last two days, we don’t have record of new cases in the state.
“And so, we believe God that it will be contained. So, this is more or less containment, we are trying to contain. What we are proposing is that, for example, if someone tests positive, then we go there and decontaminate the house and not just go around spraying all over the streets.
“Like I always use in an analogy that every drug is a poison. So, most of the time when they give you drug in the hospital, what it means is that they have adjudged your condition to be worse than the negative effect of the drug.
“So, for chemicals as well, if there are no indications, we won’t just spray everywhere. So, for now, we are starting with the Secretariat.”
She added that the committee has also written coordinate organisation and groups to also take responsibility of decontaminating their premises as a matter of social responsibility in line with an earlier developed protocol by the committee.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Bello also said the health implication of the chemicals for the decontamination has been considered and that the government has opted for the option of decontaminating only places where there are indication of the presence of victims of coronavirus, in line with experts advise and in the overall health interest of the people.

By Yinka Adeniran