Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Sunday appeared on live video to celebrate Easter with health workers at the COVID-19 isolation facilities.
In the live video, Sanwo-Olu had sent a gospel artiste, Abolaji Banjoko, popularly known Beejay Sax, to the isolation facilities, while he appealed online sending greetings and lifting the spirit of the medical personnel with songs of praise, even as they attended to medical emergencies.
He marked the Easter celebration with the medical workers at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Yaba and the Onikan Isolation Centre, Lagos Island.
In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Gboyega Akosile, the governor said that the gesture was informed by the need to personally demonstrate his gratitude to the health workers and to boost their morale.
He describing all the frontline health workers engaged by the state government in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic as ”heroes and heroines.”
“Today being Easter, I take a moment to identify with all our health workers; the heroes who deny themselves of personal wellbeing and comfort to attend to emergencies we are grappling with at this period.
“I left every other thing I was doing and thought it necessary to share this moment with those who endure great pain and discomfort to save all of us from the agony of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic,” Sanwo-Olu said.
As the music played on, the health workers and volunteers excitedly trooped out of the isolation wards, dancing towards the gospel band positioned at a safe distance in the facilities.
The health workers joined the governor and the saxophonist to pray for divine strength to raise the capacity of the state government in putting the ravaging pandemic under control.
A volunteer nurse, Mrs Bimpe Arowolo, who could not hide her excitement, described the gesture as ‘motivating’.
Arowolo thanked the governor for sharing the Easter moment with them, as the gesture lightened the mood of the workers and patients in the gloomy period.
“This is the last thing every one of us expected here today. The atmosphere in this environment has been devoid of any form of cheerfulness, because of the nature of the pandemic we are dealing with.
“We are all taken by surprise when the band started setting up its equipment. We didn’t know what they were up to until they started singing.
“This has lightened up our spirits and it will motivate us to give our best to this important assignment, which requires everyone joining hands with the government of Lagos State to stop coronavirus in the state.
“Thank you Governor Sanwo-Olu for keeping our spirits up in this rather gloomy Easter period,” she said. (NAN)
