Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has ordered the seventeen (17) Local Government chairmen, vigilante groups, and traditional rulers in the state to man their respective council borders, as part of efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the state.

A statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Simon Ortuanya, on Thursday, April 30th, 2020, said this resulted from reports that certain individuals on non-essential duties had continued to travel across the borders of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Enugu State recently recorded a new case of COVID-19, shortly after two previous cases were discharged.

Ugwuanyi directed the local government area chairmen to also mobilise development centre administrators, councillors, town union presidents’ general and youth leaders to secure the state borders, especially those shared with states with high number of infections.

According to the governor, vehicles of violating operators should be impounded and handed over to law enforcement agents for appropriate action to be taken against them.

This condemnable conduct compromises the current efforts of the state government to contain the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.

The border control activities in all Local Government Areas in Enugu State that are contiguous with other states will be intensified at night-time, which is the time most of the infractions occur,

he said.

He warned that anybody or group of persons caught aiding and abetting the illegal crossing through the state borders would be promptly apprehended and handed over to security agencies for prosecution.

In a related development, the Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Ikechukwu Obi, revealed that the state had commenced contact tracing of the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) patient in the state.

The commissioner advised those who had had come in contact with the case, who returned from Plateau State, to report themselves for testing.

He disclosed that the police had sealed the patient’s residence at No. 66 Nike Road, Abakpa Nike for subsequent disinfection and decontamination.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.