Globally, various human activities have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely, Countries have enforced total lockdown, States have imposed curfew, families have locked their doors to the outer world – all in a bid to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
In this report, OYOINSIGHT.COM’s Adebayo Abdulrahman tells the story of a town that exposes an entire nation to more cases of a virus that has no cure.
Despite the fact that the movement of people from one place to another has proven to be a major way through which coronavirus spread because it leads to physical interaction and negates social distancing a major way to prevent its spread.
However, Indigenes of Saki, a town located in the Oke-Ogun region of Oyo State have defied the orders of the federal government that there should no movement in or out of the country’s borders to curtail the spread of a virus that has killed thousands globally.
ALARM RAISED
Some indigenes of the town have raised alarm over the influx of foreigners into the town through its borders.
In a letter made available to OYOINSIGHT.COM, an indigene of the town, Tunde (not real name) wrote that the people are still going on with their ‘illegal activities’ which in no distance time might endanger the lives of the good people of the town.
The federal government had earlier ordered the total closure of all land borders that are initiated under partial closure for four weeks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, a pandemic that has killed over twenty thousand people globally, in the country.
COMPROMISED SECURITY PERSONNEL
According to the letter, the security personnel at the borders have been compromised by smugglers moving PMS out of the country every midnight through the border.
“Please, help us call the attention of the Government to take proactive measures to stop the influx of foreigners and our own people moving in and out of the state through Saki borders to the neighboring countries like Benin Republic, Togo, Cotonou, Burkina Faso, Abidjan among others.
The ignorant tanker drivers might import the virus to the state.’’ The letter read.
PEOPLE STILL TRANSPORT GOODS ‘IN’ AND ‘OUT’
An indigene of the town Olanrewaju Ahmad, who is the coordinator of the Saki COVID-19 sensitization group during a telephone interview with OYOINSIGHT.COM confirmed that the people of the town still travel in and out of the country despite the threat of coronavirus, a pandemic that has brought.
Ahmad added that he knows people who still transport goods from Saki to some francophone countries and those that still bring goods from those countries to Nigeria through the Saki border despite the order of the Federal Government.
THERE ARE VARIOUS WAYS TO MOVE
Another indigene of the town Abdullahi Olanrewaju, a graduate of Zoology who resides in the town in a chat with OYOINSIGHT.COM said people still move in and out of the country through the border but the route they take depends on whether they are transporting contraband goods or not.
In his words, ‘’when we are talking about movements, are we talking about just moving in and out of Saki or we are talking about moving in and out of the country with contraband goods like rice
“If we are talking about just transportation, people still move in and out freely but for the importation of foreign rice, they pass through illegal routes basically bush tracks.’’
DRIVERS DEVISE ILLEGAL ROUTES
Moshood Yusuf Alade expressed his own displeasure about the attitude of his kinsmen in a statement titled ‘SAKI AND COVID-19; OUR IGNORANCE COULD NOT SPARE SATURDAY’.
In the statement, he wrote, ‘’ Our borders are too porous, the influx from francophone countries is too much, despite the total closure of Nigerian borders, the drivers have devised illegal routes to bring them in, despite several pleading to their leaders.’’
THE THREAT
Investigations by OYOINSIGHT.COM revealed that the effect this illegal entry and exit can have on the spread of coronavirus is dangerous.
One of the cities the people travel to through the Saki border is Abidjan, the densely populated economic capital of Cote d’Ivoire and a report by Premium Times on Monday showed that 12 out of the 14 confirmed cases in Osun State were returnees allowed into the country by the governor of the State, Gboyega Oyetola, who ensured that they were immediately quarantined and tested to prevent them from mingling with other people in the state.
Further findings by OYOINSIGHT.COM based on statistics from worldometers.com revealed that as at 1.30 pm on Tuesday, April 2, Ivory Coast has 190 cases of the virus which is 16 cases more than that of Nigeria.
Burkina Faso another country people frequently visit from Saki border has 282 confirmed cases which is over 100 cases more than that recorded in Nigeria.
Other countries the people of the town can easily access through the border are Congo and Benin republic with 22 and 13 confirmed cases respectively.
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