ABEOKUTA– Ogun State Deputy Governor, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele has said the Coronavirus pandemic has taught many countries to think outside the box in developing machines and other Personal Protective Equipment, (PPE), towards safeguarding its citizens, due to border closure, which made importation worldwide, impossible.
Engr. Salako-Oyedele stated this while playing host to Members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, (NSE) Abeokuta branch, who came to present mobile and removable contact-less hand washing device, fabricated by its graduate engineers, Mr. Ayinla Ahmed and Miss Simbiat Odeniyi, to the State government, as support in reducing community spread of Covid-19.
‘’We are all aware of the community spread of the disease which is caused by touching of eyes and noses with infected hands; hence the need to take proactive measures, while trying to get everybody back to their normal activities, such as; reopening of education facilities, commercial activities, religious worship centers and social engagements’’, she said.
Commending the efforts of the Engineers in manufacturing the hand washing devices, the Deputy Governor said it was a innovation other professional bodies, particularly those in the manufacturing sector needed to key into, maintaining that regular hand washing remains the best way to curb the spread of the virus.
Earlier in his remark, the State Chairman, NSE, Engr. Lanre Apampa, commended government’s quick response towards mitigating the effects of the pandemic in the state, noting that, during the lockdown, the society supported the state government in the fight against the pandemic by donating the sum of N1m.
In a related development, the Nigerian Directorate of Employment, (NDE) has donated 20,000 face masks, produced by IT trainees in skills acquisition, at its training centre, Sabo Abeokuta.
Speaking while presenting the masks, the Director General, NDE, Dr. Nasir Ladan Argungu, represented by the State Coordinator, Mr. Bamgbade Adekunle, said the donation was to support the State government in stopping the spread of the pandemic in the State.
