DEBO ADEOYE, IBADAN
The Musical Instrument Owners and Hiring Association of Nigeria (MIOHAN), Oyo State Chapter has appealed to the state governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde to rally support for the association to end untimely death among its members.
The statement was contained in a release signed by the chairman, Oyo state chapter of the association, Mr. Rasheed Babatunde and secretary, Alhaji Wasiu Ayesoro and made available to journalists in Ibadan on Sunday.
The association narrated how precautionary measures put in place by the government to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic affected businesses of its members.
“Though, decision of the state government to ban public and social gathering is commendable, at least reduces the spread of the virus; but our association remains the only professional body without any escaping route to carry out its business activities. We deal with sound, its resonance spread like wildfire.
“We means of livelihood is from hiring out of musical instruments to musicians, club houses, event’s organizers and to individuals for parties. Unfortunately, government has banned all forms of gathering with more than twenty people. How do we get patronage?
We are grossly affected, in actual fact, we are the most affected professional, our families are the most affected. We couldn’t provide food for our families, our children are suffering starvation. We couldn’t afford a medical bill, that has caused lives.
“Our members that died were not affected directly by the coronavirus but inability to purchase drugs and pay for medical treatment of different health challenges responsible for their death. Now, some of our members are down with different sicknesses and we wouldn’t want to lose anyone again, that’s what forced us out of our shells.
“We have written earlier through the state house of assembly, no response yet. We sent another letter to the people’s governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde a week ago. We pray that the governor grant our request to safe our lives and that of those depending on us. We pray for more successes for governor Makinde’s administration,” the group concluded.
