The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Civil Society Situation Room has instructed that any worker who is in doubt of his or her health status to stay at home. This was to prepare Oyo State Civil servants who are set to resume on Monday.
The state chairperson of the Situation Room and NLC Chairman, Comrade Bayo Titilola-Sodo announced this on Sunday in a communique made available to journalists in Ibadan.
Titilola-Sodo said the decision was necessitated by the planned resumption of workers on Monday, June 21 and students in terminal classes on June 29, 2020.
The national leadership of the NLC had launched the situation room to provide advisory services to the government to prevent pay-cuts and retrenchment of workers.
According to the communique, the meeting had in attendance various leaders of the unions which form the Situation Room, including NLC, Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) and others. Among the leaders are Comrade Femi Aborisade, Comrade Ibrahim Mohammed and others.
Comrade Titilola-Sodo stated: “On resumption of all workers at the state Secretariat, it has been agreed that there will be enforcement like temperature police at the entrance to each ministry. The number of hand washers will be increased. Not less than one at the entrance of each ministry with water in constant supply and soup. Every worker will be supplied with two face masks. They will as much as possible maintain social distancing.
“We are however advising our members to take personal responsibility for their well-being and safety. If you are in doubt of your status, don’t go to work. Let your supervisor know that you won’t come to work this particular day and that will be taken.No one will be punished for not coming to work. Nobody will be coerced to go to work.
“On school resumption, my advice to the parents is to take COVID-19 guidelines. I keep saying it; as at today, the total number of tests Nigeria has undertaken on COVID-19 is just 102,000 for a population of about 200 million people when we have the UK with a less 100 million people doing over 170,000 tests in one day. Therefore, our data is not reliable. So we should take personal responsibility for our well-being and safety. We must take to the protocols and follow the protocols for our children.”
According to the communique, the NLC chairman strongly called on the government to make the necessary supply where inadequacies are observed.
On his part, Comrade Aborisade emphasized that front-line workers handling COVID-19 patients must be well kitted.
According to him, “A lot is not being known about COVID-19. Unless certain things are put in place, they should not jeopardize the lives of students and workers”, calling for the need to rebuild marketplaces to prevent massive community transmission.
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