Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education alumni pledges to mass produce facemasks for Lagosians

ALUMNI of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED) in Lagos State have pledged to mass-produce facemasks for all students of the institution and its surrounding community in the Oto/Ijanikin area.

Last week, Governor Babajide Sanwoolu, made the wearing of facemasks compulsory across the state as part of measures to contain the pandemic. He announced this following the decision by the federal government to lift the total lockdown on the state in response to its economy's inability to sustain it any further.

Today, Lagosians returned to the streets but very few of them had facemasks or protective equipment, creating the risk of a significant spike in infections. In response, the (AOCOED), said the move was part of its corporate social responsibility to support the Lagos State government’s fight against the pandemic.

Eniola Opeyemi, the alumni association's public relations officer, said it would  kickstart the initiative which would be executed by past and present students of the college who studied fashion design, under the college’s  entrepreneurship programme. He added that 1,000 facemasks would be produced in the first phase of the initiative solely for students, after which the very best among the samples would be selected for further mass production to host communities as well as Lagos residents.

Mr Opeyemi added: “Preparations are in top gear to ensure our institution contributes to the fight against Covid-19 and we need to encourage our schools nationwide by asking them to look inward for solutions. The secretary of the association, Mr Ismaila Yusuf, has listed the names of past and present students of AOCOED who have come up with beautiful designs suitable for the purpose and we are set to mobilise them for immediate production of free face masks to Lagosians.”

He pointed out that the masks for Lagos residents would be delivered to the office of the special adviser on education. Earlier today, Nigerian financial service technology company OPay, made a donation of 40,000 medical facemasks to the Lagos State government, with a commitment to donate another 200,000 over the coming weeks.