By Francis Ogwo
About 40 travellers heading to Lagos from Kano State have been intercepted in Niger State.
Similarly, 19 other travellers on their way to Kano were also stopped by the Niger State Task Force on COVID-19.
News of the interception of the travellers were broken in Minna, the State capital on Wednesday, May 6th, 2020. This was disclosed in a release signed by the Chief Press Secretary to Niger State Governor, Mary Noel-Berje.
This, according to observers, faults the inter-State ban order of President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, April 27, which placed restriction on non-essential inter-State passengers as a measure of containment of the ravaging Covid-19.
“Despite the inter-State lockdown, people are still moving under any small opportunity they got. I can’t imagine people travelling under the cover of trampoline and sack of rice.
Niger State Commissioner of Health, Dr Muhammadu Makusidi in a recent interview, stated; “For us, we are not going to leave any stone unturned, they are going back to where they came from.”
The State government further said the government had charged the offenders to mobile court and they have been convicted to about three months to one-year imprisonment with an option of fine.
Currently, Lagos has been battling with desperate returnees who have been faced with the intensity of the movement restriction despite its high rate of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reports, the State has about 1,308 Covid-19 cases, and Kano with 427 cases, making both States have the highest cases of infections in the country.
Niger State on the other hand, is located in the North Central region of Nigeria and a gateway State between the upper North and Southern Nigeria.
