Fred Itua, Abuja

The FCT Administration has revealed plans to create mobile courts to try erring residents. It has also reviewed the lockdown order in the territory to minimise the spread of the virus.

It said although the level of compliance had been relatively fair, residents had, however, devised means to bypass roadblocks. It urged residents to use markets in their neighbourhoods.

A statement released by the Administration reads: “While the level of compliance has been satisfactory at the Federal Capital City (FCC) over the first few days of the lockdown, the same cannot be said about the satellite towns located at the various area councils where  residents  there have largely ignored the lockdown directive.

“However, over the past few days, adherence to the lockdown directives at the city centre has also deteriorated. Residents have used the excuse of going to the markets to flout the lockdown directives and traders selling non-essential food commodities have also used this window to open their shops in clear violation of the directives not to do so.

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“Despite the directives that residents should patronise neighbourhood shops and markets within their districts and not move from one district to the other to buy their essential items in order to minimize movement of people and vehicles across the city, this has largely been flouted as well.

“In order to ensure that the FCT does not witness an escalation in the number of COVID-19 positive cases and prevent a public health emergency, the FCT Administration has resolved on new measures to enforce the cessation of movement and ensure its compliance by residents of the FCT.

“Market operational days are henceforth reduced to two days in a week namely Wednesdays and Saturdays only. Residents should patronize only neighbourhood markets as movement from one district to the other now constitutes a violation of the lockdown.

“Mobile courts will now be activated to try all violators of the directive on the cessation of movement across the FCT. Motorcycles (okada) are henceforth barred from operating anywhere in Kubwa and Dutse Alhaji during the lockdown.”