In a bid to curtail the spread of coronavirus, the federal and state governments banned inter-state movements across the country. The Nigerian Governors Forum, after its 6th teleconference meeting in April, gave guidelines which only exempted the movement of foodstuff, agricultural products and pharmaceuticals. Rather than observe these guidelines, some Nigerians instead resorted to moving human cargoes across the states. Some days ago, security operatives arrested some 60 Lagos-bound men who hid in a truck conveying cows to Lagos at the Berger end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The men reportedly came from Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Kano states. Some of them jumped down from the truck and ran away. But it was good that the security operatives denied them access and turned them back.
In Edo State, the police similarly intercepted a trailer load of human beings from Kaduna at Irrua on Benin-Auchi Road. They were 84 in number. Twenty-six others were caught in Benin, the state capital. Three of the travellers reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. The state government ordered that they be escorted out of the state to the South-West where they said they were going to.
In Ebonyi State, 700 persons were said to have been arrested for entering the state illegally despite the ban on inter-state travel. The state governor, David Umahi, said the violators were being quarantined at the Pa Oruta Ngele Township Stadium in Abakaliki.
The most disturbing of these trends is the movement of Almajirai from one state to the other. The other day, security operatives intercepted a truckload of these children heading for Abia State at Enugu-Abia border on Enugu-Aba Expressway. Many trucks conveying food items with several Almajirai hidden in them had earlier been turned back on different occasions at the same border. A week ago, security operatives also intercepted 150 travellers including Almajiri children in three vehicles on Abuja-Kaduna Road. They were heading for Kaduna from Abuja and Nyanya in Nasarawa State.
What may have triggered these movements is the decision of northern governors to stop the Almajiri menace by evacuating them to their states of origin. So far, Kano State Government said it evacuated 1,172 of these Almajirai to five northern states since the evacuation exercise started over two weeks ago.
However, the challenges trailing the exercise have triggered critical remarks from some northern elites. For instance, though the apex northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, agreed that the Almajiri system was retrogressive, it reportedly berated the northern governors for the alleged clumsy and uncoordinated implementation of their evacuation. In the same vein, the Northern Traditional Leaders Council (NTLC) called for a direct order from the Federal Government to stop the relocation of the Almajirai. The group warned that such action would escalate the spread of the coronavirus disease especially in the North.