SOUTH-WEST states of Nigeria have tightened security at their Northern
boundaries amidst discoveries that Northern youths are hiding behind bags of
foodstuffs and livestock to breach the existing COVID-19 lockdown in the zone.
At all the boundaries, security agents have intensified
searches on trucks conveying foodstuffs from the North, especially with Kano
emerging as the new epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in Nigeria.
Some days ago, Ekiti State residents felled trees across
roads at boundaries to beat the antics of security agents who were suspected to
be compromising the security of the state.
The trees were soon cleared because they blocked access for
vehicles on essential travels.
In Lagos State, fear is mounting over the possibility of a
second major outbreak of coronavirus as truck drivers moving farm produce from
Kano have been accused of smuggling passengers from the Northern state into
Lagos, hiding them among huge tomato consignments.
Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous state, is leading in
COVID-19 infection, topping the 1,000 mark, while Kano’s number is surging at a
rate that has alarmed medical experts and personnel.
Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, had confirmed
COVID-19 patients fleeing the state and threatened to have their names
published.
The two states are under presidential lockdown with the
North’s most populous state moving into the epicenter of the coronavirus
crisis, following a slew of high-profile deaths within weeks, suspected to be
COVID-19-related.
The alleged smuggling of passengers from Kano, whose
COVID-19 status are unknown, into Lagos is causing panic and uproar in the
south-western state.
A similar situation between Osun and Zamfara states which
saw indigenes of the latter being packed alongside goods from the North to the
south-western state has witnessed a flurry of unpleasant official exchanges
between the governments of the two states.
Kaduna and Kano also recently engaged in a brief spat over
same issue after a truck from Kano was caught by Kaduna officials at the border
trying to smuggle in young boys suspected to be almajirai.
Kaduna is another hotbed of COVID-19 and the governor,
Nasir el-Rufai, just sailed through the infection, having spent weeks in
isolation.
Trucks doing inter-state movement of essential goods,
especially foodstuffs, are cleared by the authorities manning the lockdown
regulations and the alleged abuse of the privilege is linked to desire to make
a fortune out of the national misfortune.
As the controversy deepens, authorities are talking tough
but market leaders from the North trading in Lagos are washing their hands of
the illegal movement of humans, which could further hurt official and
unofficial efforts at stopping the spread of the deadly virus.
Security agencies in charge of enforcement of the ban on human
interstate movements are alleged to be in a compromise, facilitated by bribe
monies from the truck drivers and their passengers.
Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has consistently
warned security agencies against compromise that could further hurt a populace
which has been on a lockdown for close to five weeks.
President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers
(NURTW), Alhaji Tajudeen Baruwa, has also joined the fray, warning the union
members across the country to desist from mixing passengers with foodstuffs and
livestock.
Baruwa, who is a member of the Technical Task Force set up
by the Federal Government on free movement of foodstuffs and livestock, gave
the warning in a letter sent to all the state councils of the union.
He said in the letter: “This is to bring to your notice
that the Federal Government, on April 24, 2020, inaugurated a joint Technical
Task Force. The mandate of the team is mainly to facilitate the movement and
free flow of food, livestock and agricultural inputs across the country during
the lockdown period.
“The purpose of this circular is to inform all our member
drivers, particularly drivers of articulated vehicles (trucks) who are involved
in conveyance of foodstuffs, livestock and agricultural inputs across the
country that carrying of fare-paying passengers on their trips is highly
prohibited.
“However, a driver is authorised to go along with his
assistant/mate (conductor) who will help the driver in the event of any
breakdown or an errand while on their trip.
“However, be informed that the in the state or areas where
there are no trucks, buses and cars can also be used to convey food items,
provided that such vehicles are not used to carry another passenger(s) except
the driver’s assistant or conductor, as the case may be.
“Furthermore, state secretaries are hereby directed to
liaise with the directors of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in their
respective states as similar technical task teams will be constituted in every
state of the federation.”
Northern youths are coming to Lagos for
survival –Sarkin Hausawa
The Sarkin Hausawa of the Sasha area of Lagos, Alhaji
Iliyasu Isa-Kira, appealed to Northern youths to remain in their home states
pending when the Federal Government will lift the ban on interstate travels.
Reacting to the allegation that many of the youths get
hidden in trucks moving cattle to Lagos, Alhaji Isa-Kira, who himself has been
caught up in the lockdown in Katsina State, said the youths migrating to Lagos
were merely artisans looking to use any available window provided by government
to engage in menial jobs that would fetch them some money to survive the
coronavirus hardship.
He attributed their decision to be smuggled into Lagos in
trailers bringing livestock to a desperate attempt to escape government order
mainly to make little money for survival.
He, however, appealed to Lagos and federal governments to
assist citizens with adequate palliatives, saying nothing kills faster than
hunger.
“Lagos State government should please help people with
food. Hunger kills people even more than coronavirus. Many people who died in
Kano State were not killed by the virus but hunger,” he said.
Commenting on the situation, the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos and
chairman of the Association of Fulani Chiefs in Southwest Nigeria, Alhaji
Mohammed Bambado, said all that is required to discourage such a practice is
for relevant authorities to be proactive by ensuring that all drivers and their
vehicles are properly checked at the time of leaving the North.
He advised that clearance to pass as workers on essential
services be issued after the vehicles have been duly checked, adding that any
driver thereafter caught conveying unauthorised persons should be sanctioned
alongside the passengers.
According to him, COVID-19 is not a disease to joke with as
it requires strict adherence to government’s guidelines by all Nigerians.
“It is only when serious sanction is applied that other
drivers who have similar intent and their passengers would believe that
government is serious about its given rules and guidelines on inter-state
vehicular movements,” he noted.
Bambado pointed out that thorough checking of vehicles
carrying foodstuffs and other essential items at this period of lockdown should
be extended to all drivers moving from one part of the country to another and
not only those moving from the North to Lagos and this should be done at every
border post.
We aren’t involved –Mile 12 market leader
Reacting, the chairman of Mile 12 International Market,
Alhaji Shehu Usman, said it was a lie that Northerners were using the movement
of foodstuffs and livestock to move illegally into Lagos.
Mile 12 is a major food market in Lagos.
Alhaji Usman, however, admitted that some unscrupulous
drivers who might want to make more money could still pick passengers on the
road. He warned them of the consequences of such an act if caught.
He said: “It is a lie. Look, for about 15 years now,
traders at the market have advanced to the extent that they don’t even send
anybody to follow their goods. Only the driver will be given a waybill to the
vendor in the market.
“People don’t come with their goods again because in cases
where they make losses, they will still use from the money for their
transportation back to the North. It becomes double loss for them. We called
them for a meeting and told them that everybody was becoming wiser now. Place
the items that you have for sale in a truck and send it to a vendor in Lagos.
The vendor will sell for you and send your money to you through your account.
“In most cases, people do not follow the exchange except
perhaps if the driver wants to make some money along the road and decides to
pick passengers, which we have warned them about.
“I called most of the drivers that do come to Mile 12. I
had a meeting with them and warned them that anybody that is caught picking
passengers beyond the conductor of the truck or the owner of the goods on the
road will be handed over to the police. We have done that for a very long time.
Nobody is picking passenger on the road again.”
The market chairman also said: “It is not a service for the passengers.
Just yesterday, I was called from Ogun State on the same issue and I told them
that it is the services of the drivers and that what they should do is to go to
radio and television stations to announce that any driver that picks passengers
on the road should be apprehended.”
According to him, no new faces have been admitted into the
market and those who were admitted as members of the market came with
guarantors who vouched for them.
He added: “If somebody wants to become a member of the
market association, he or she must first come to us to signify his intention
and he must bring somebody to stand as his guarantor. It is the guarantor that
will say ‘this is my brother. He is from so and so place. Nobody is even doing
that now.
“We don’t just allow traders; anybody that you see in the
market, whether Hausa, Yoruba or Ibo, somebody has vouched for them. We engaged
in the use of ID card to identify you and know where you came from. The Mile 12
of yesterday is not the Mile 12 of today. You can see that from the face of the
market.
“You see, the good part of it is that since the inception
of this coronavirus, after several warnings to people, we have not had a single
case of casualty, even when people come to the market from places with high
number of victims like Eti Osa. I am the chairman of the market. I have not
heard of a single case.”
‘How ban is compromised’
Saturday Tribune investigations revealed that apart from
those who were given government permit to move freely in all parts of the
country, residents of different states who do not belong to any category of
essential services hide under those with permit to flout the lockdown
directive.
A journalist (name withheld) who conducted discreet
investigation reported that moving from his Sango, Ogun State base to Lagos on
a daily basis since the lockdown commenced, he had encountered adamant
residents taking advantage of the permit given to some people to beat the
lockdown order.
The journalist said: “I have had different experiences
since the lockdown started. My ID card has been the source of my confidence but
I rely mostly on drivers with permit from the government.
“When the lockdown started, I enjoyed free ride from truck
drivers who were moving from Ogun State to Lagos State. These drivers have
permit and once I told them about my identity, they would give me free ride to
Lagos.
“There was an instance when I had to pay a tricyclist, who
was a distributor for a snack company, through my nose. He allowed passengers
to sit beside him on the only seat in the tricycle.
“On the fateful day, I had gone to Atan and was returning
home but could not get a vehicle. After waiting for hours, I stopped the
tricyclist who charged me exorbitantly. I had no choice but to jump into the
space beside him.
“At every security point, he kept showing his company’s
permit to the police and others who were not even concerned about his
passenger.”
Some residents, especially those who have urgent need to
get to Ikorodu and neighbouring communities go as far as Abeokuta and Sagamu in
Ogun State to get to Ikorodu.
Monsuru, a resident of Agbado who got a contract in Ikorodu
some weeks before the lockdown, said: “When I had emergencies, I went through
Sango to Abeokuta and Sagamu to link Ikorodu. From there, it is easier getting
to Ikorodu.”
Meanwhile, Alhaji Bambado faulted the Northern Governors’
Forum for choosing this period of COVID-19 pandemic in the country to send
Almajiri boys and their malams back to their respective states of origin.
He said he is not against the repatriation of the boys but
doing that at this period of coronavirus crisis with almost 2,000 confirmed
cases and 58 deaths, as of Friday, nationwide is a badly timed idea.
According to him, repatriating the children at this period
is an easy way of spreading coronavirus from person to person and from
community to community and the consequences of that on the region and the
country at large will be very huge.
Bambado, in an interview with Saturday Tribune, said all
governors, rather than engage in activities that will worsen the health crisis,
should, prioritise joining forces towards ensuring that the COVID-19 pandemic
curve is flattened and normalcy returns to the country.
Making reference to those Almajirai who were moved from
Kano State to Kaduna and Bauchi states with some of them testing positive for
the virus, the traditional ruler said the various state governments would need
to wait until after winning the COVID-19 war before starting to implement the
repatriation agreement.
He said there is no need for rush since the movement of the
boys can be shelved for now and if they must be returned to their home states,
there is the need to first ascertain their health status.
“You don’t just pack people together at this period of
COVID-19 on the excuse of taking them back to their states of origin when there
should be social\physical distancing, and that is why this repatriation issue
will need to be handled with great caution,” he emphasised.
While also faulting parents who release their children for
alms seeking rather than sending them to school and bringing them up properly
for a better future, Bambado, who hails from Jigawa State, advised the
government to build almajiri schools not only in the state capitals but in
every corner of each state in the region and run them using nomadic education
template.
He said doing such would help the repatriation initiative
to yield great results in the region.
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