The Akwa Ibom State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation has raised alarm over continuous violation of inter-state lockdown by people claiming to be traders on essential duties.
The Organisation in its weekly report on Tuesday warned that the trend if not checked could undermine government’s efforts and lead to a spike in spread of coronavirus in the state
According to the report signed by the Chairman and Secretary of its Special COVID-19 Monitoring Committee, Nsemeke Udoakpan and Christopher Ekpo respectively, the group claimed it has uncovered the creation of two illegal Adhoc motor parks, one at the Itu, Akwa Ibom State end of the bridge and another at the Odukpani, Cross River State end of the bridge.
The group which claimed that passengers from Calabar axis disembark and trek across the bridge freely to board another vehicle called on the government to devise a full proof means to identify genuine traders on essential duties.
“CLO is alarmed that there still exists inter-state movements into and out of the state.
“We have observed that two ad-hoc motor parks have been established at either end of the Itu-Odukpani-Bridge – one at the Itu, Akwa Ibom State end of the Bridge and the other at the Odukpani, Cross River State end of the Bridge.
“Commuters from the Itu end disembark, trek across the bridge, apparently, after compromising security agents and board other vehicles at the Odukpani end of the bridge.
“We are aware of similar porosity at other entry and exit points into and out of Akwa Ibom State. Since the virus is transmitted by persons rather than vehicles, CLO urges that emphasis be on the restriction of persons and not just vehicles moving into or out of the State.
“We’re worried that a large number of the persons moving across the State into other States claim to be traders on food items.
“We urge the government to devise foolproof means to identify genuine traders on essential duties,” the statement said
The organisations, however, commended the state government on some of the steps it has taken to contain the pandemic, including the ban on livestock markets and the surveillance maintained by security agencies which led to the interception of corpses into the state
