Reported by Michael Adelaja
Sequel to the relaxation of the COVID-19 induced total lock-down in Lagos, there was a mild drama reported in Onipanu area of Lagos State, Nigeria, today September 4, 2020, when amidst a crowd of depositors struggling to access the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) facility, an unknown man suspected to have manifested the COVID-19 symptom was reported to have suddenly collapsed.
Lagosians had trooped in their large number today after the Lagos State Government relaxed the total lockdown upon the expiration of the earlier called curfew by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Although, the decision by Lagos State as announced by the Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, was met with mixed feelings by Nigerians who expressed their concerns over the risk of further and overwhelming spread of the pandemic, in which Lagos state already happens to be the epic center.
According to some witnesses who spoke via phone conversation to Star Media Renaissance (SMR) reporter, “there was total disobedience to Social Distancing as the whole place was crowded to a point that not even a space as tiny as a needles eye was created to distance people among themselves”. Other witnesses expressed the anger at the bank managers who did not put modalities in place in preparation for what was to come.
The incidence which occurred today at the First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has shown however, that the risk of a wider spread of the COVID-19 cannot be written off. Information gotten from a reliable source showed that the long queue of depositors waiting to gain access into the bank became empty almost immediately as the people all fled the scene of the incidence for fear of been taken into the NCDC quarantine facility.
It is important at this point to call the attention of the Lagos State Government, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and the state security apparatus, to swing into action and ensure prompt tracing of all those who visited the bank as at time of incidence. No stones should be left un-turned at this time, as the consequence for inaction could be extremely dangerous in the struggle to halt further spread of the virus in Nigeria.