Worried by the reported lapses at the various boundaries into Delta State, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, on Saturday directed members of the COVID-19 Taskforce on Boundary Enforcement in charge of the thirteen land borders between Delta and other states, to turn back vehicles not on essential duty and the ones carrying people from other states.
The governor gave the directive while monitoring compliance at the Edo and Delta States border points at Alifikede in Ika South Local Government Area and the Asaba bridge head connecting Onitsha in Anambra State.
Dr Okowa affirmed that he aware that some persons were being moved from one part of the country to the other urging security operatives and members of the task force at the borders to be vigilant so as to detect such movements and frustrate them from gaining entrance into the state.
While commending the people for their effort so far in the control of movement at the borders, the governor charged them to do more as the fight against COVID-19 needed the input of all.
Dr Okowa also frowned at the mass movement of people from Asaba into Onitsha and from Onitsha into Asaba on foot and motorcycle urging the security agencies and members of the taskforce to be alive to their responsibilities in order to check the spread of COVID-19.
The governor said: “we have gone round to see the work the Committee and some of our youths are doing in enforcing the inter-state lockdown to ensure that it is being done properly the way it ought to be done.
“There are certain protocols that have been allowed; inter-state movement of goods and services has been restricted to agricultural products and in that respect, only such vehicles are supposed to be moving from one state to another.
“But, most Nigerians will always want to do whatever they wished; so, we have had to ensure that our 13 boundaries with other states are well secured.
“We have various security agencies at every boundary and we have decided to add to them our community youths to help ensure that the processes set in place allow only those who are permitted by the order of the President or by the order of the state government to go through the state.
“Every other vehicle is supposed to be turned back. We have come out today at the Head Bridge and the junction between Edo and Delta at the Alifikede boundaries.
“A lot of work is being done by the task force set up in these two places and I am hopeful that this is same thing going on in the other eleven places.
“The reason behind the inter-state lockdown is because we want to limit the number of persons moving across states so that we try as much as possible to limit the spread of the coronavirus.