Dear Governor Yahaya Bello,
I had to take a seat and think again after watching your interview with Seun Okinbaloye and I was not impressed at all. The enormity of responses you gave left me stone cold for several hours. I kept thinking about my useful foes , lovely friends, and my family living in Kogi all at the mercy of “Chance.”
I have never been one to sit still waiting for something to happen. I realized the need for seasoned thoughts and plans within your team and I decided to add mine to it. I figured that managing Corona virus infection is not difficult at all but managing people requires a lot of wisdom and creativity. I will therefore donate these ideas as my own contributions to the fight against COVID-19 in Kogi state.
Kogi state has not yet recorded any case of COVID-19 and it is in the best interest of the Government and the people for that not to happen. My first approach will be to do everything possible to ensure that an infected person does not enter Kogi state and if at all that happens, the person can be quickly tracked and all the contacts tracked and isolated immediately.
Preemptive Measures
Tracking /dataSecurity
Communication
Preemptive Protocols
1) If I won’t shut down activities in Kogi then I will shut down movements anyhow into or through Kogi state. All the border towns will be strictly monitored by Security personnel (civil defense, road safety and Volunteers).
In Lokoja the security team will include Doctors and Nurse. Provision will be made for their meals and their welfare will be adequately taken care of for at least six months. I will make passing through Kogi a rigorous exercise as I would not leave anything to chance.
Any vehicle entering from Ajaokuta road will get to Ganaja junction, turn left and head out through zone 8 to the express. Once they get to Ganaja, security people will escort them to the express. No travelling vehicles will be allowed to pass through the town at all like they have been doing for years. There will be a designated place for traveling vehicles to wait for passengers to ease themselves as Nataco will be shut down. Nobody will be allowed to sell food at Natoco, movement will be strictly regulated and fumigation carried out at the designated place every evening.
If travelling vehicles will have to drop passengers at Lokoja; this will be the protocol:
They will drop the said passenger, drop all the names of their passengers with phone numbers and contact addresses and security people will escort them via zone 8 out of Lokoja to the express. As for the passenger that was dropped; tests will be carried out on the said passenger and they might possibly be quarantined for some days before being allowed to join Kogi people. There will be at least five isolation centers in Kogi.
Medical protocols:
There should be one for each of the senatorial district.
But Kogi West will have two. One in Lokoja because of the unique position Lokoja occupies and the one for Kogi West will be sited in Egbe Hospital. I will have nothing less than 500 volunteers largely made up medical personnel. One hundred in the WestOne hundred in the EastOne hundred in the Central And two hundred stationed especially in Lokoja. I will look for 1 billion Naira (N1bn) to take care of all the volunteers and Security personnel’s welfare for at least 6 months. I will ask for 500million naira donation from Dangote and raise another 500 million somehow to buy essential gears for those at the front line.
Security Protocols
I will release all the Utility vehicles purchased during the election for evacuation and patrols. Police work would be to stay on high alert to forestall kidnappings and robberies, and I will personally monitor and censor their activities as they would not be allowed to harass citizens or take bribes from them.
Social Relief protocols:
All Kogites must eat. At least Rice from the Confluence Mill will be made available to every citizen. There might be pay cuts but this will be communicated by me as the Governor and reasons will be given and not just that, I will give account of what is being done with the pay cuts All farmers in Kogi will be invited to a meeting and we will set up a taskforce on how to feed the state LG by LG, ward by ward for at least six months. A crate of Eggs will be given to all families in the state every two weeks
Communication Protocols:
Once a week, I will be on air to give account of what we are doing, how we intend to keep every one safe and fight hunger. I will give a detailed account of what we have and what we need to get.
Finally, I can ask for citizen’s support by telling them to stay indoors as much as they can to help curb the spread of corona virus
Dear Governor Yahaya Bello, this is your time to shine and build a lasting legacy.
I am also available for further consultation and to be part of the think tank for Kogi state to fight Covid19. I will say this upfront, it will be my contribution, I don’t want to get paid, I offer myself free of charge.
God bless You. God bless Kogi State.
– Kemi Roland writes from Abuja.
