Travellers hard hit as Anambra remains in lockdown
Anambra State government in collaboration with security agencies in the state have continued to enforce the closure of inter-state boundaries, leaving travellers groaning.
Newsmonitor reporter who monitored the enforcement round the state on Friday discovered that all the six boundaries leading into the state from Enugu, Delta, Imo, Rivers, Kogi and Abia have restrictions for entry.
The boundaries were mounted by a combined team of police, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and personnel of the ministry of transport in the state.
Some of the travellers whose movement were restricted decried their conditions, adducing reason for their need to either leave the state or come into it, just as the enforcement team stuck to the initial order for only people on essential duties to cross over or cross into the state.
A Traveller said, “I am taking my brother to hospital. It is true that we live in Enugu, but our border is very close to Anambra, and we use the hospital at Amansea.”
Another truck loaded with metal scraps had banana bunches covering it, but the officials discovering the waste metal denied the driver exit from the state.
The Mobile Police commander, Mr Victor Erivwode who spoke to journalists during the inspection said his team has had a hectic time checking the entry and exit of vehicles into the state.
“We have less pressure now, I must confess. When this started on Monday, all the borders were full of stranded passengers, but we had to explain to them that we are not doing this to punish them, but to protect them.
“We must all comply and observe this 14 days stay at home exercise, to see if we can beat the disease,” he said.
It was observed that in the Delta axis of the state, desperate travellers, instead of using the Niger Bridge opted to sail in canoes to obscure shores in Onitsha from where they access the Anambra State.
A Traveller, Mr Sunny David’s said, “I undertook the risk, because of an emergency that happened in my village in Delta State. My aged in le died, and he needs to be buried immediately. However, the tradition does not permit that he be buried unless his surviving sibling gives consent. So I had to travel down to put the old woman on call back home, so the deceased could be buried.
