Traders and others who are traveling to Kano state from Niger will henceforth be quarantined for 14 days after their return to the state.
Niger governor Abubakar Bello announced the quarantine during a symbolic presentation of masks made in the state at the start of a move to make use of face masks mandatory.
Bello narrated how he intercepted some traders and travellers around 1am in the night rushing to Kano to purchase goods.
He, therefore, ordered nine chairmen of local government areas of the state to quarantine anyone that returns from Kano state for 14 days.
The local government councils include Tafa, Munya, Suleja, Paikoro, Bosso, Chachanga, Kontagora, Rafi, and Mariga, stressing that even the goods the traders will bring along with them should also be quarantined.
The Governor said it became necessary to quarantine anyone returning from Kano to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
“The Chairmen of Tafa, Munya, Suleja, Kontagora, Rafi, Paikoro, Bosso, Chachanga, Mariga should quarantine these traders and returnees from Kano for two weeks. Make provision for small hotels where you will place them on quarantine. Who knows, even the goods from Kano can also be contaminated.
“You have to be on the road from 3 pm to detail anyone who is coming from Kano. The case in Kano is very serious and we have to take it seriously to prevent the spread in the state.
“Make sure you get enough hotels that can take all of them and keep only one person in a room to avoid contact with each other,” the governor said.
Bello, however, berated the security agents for compromising the restriction of movement stressing that security of all entry points into the state would be reinforced to ensure strict adherence to the lockdown directive.
“For the past two days, I went out very early in the morning and I saw a lot of cars coming from Kontagora, who were going to Kano; not less than 30 cars and they were going to Kano.
“In this day and age where we have seen what is happening in Kano in the last few days.
“Kano should be a place where one should be avoiding.
“Sadly, I ask them if they know the situation on the ground in Kano and they said they did, and also if they know about the virus, they also said they did but they still choose to leave Kontagora to Kano despite what is on the ground.
“The annoying part is that there are checkpoints where they are coming from but they were not stopped.
“It seems the security agents are compromising the lockdown effort.
“They collect stipends and allow the people to pass.
“They should know that they are not immune to this virus and they are also endangering their lives,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state government has distributed 300,000 face masks to be shared among people of the state freely.
The government announced that it will commence production of hand sanitizers and face mask to make it available to people as the prices skyrocketed in the market.
The governor warned that anyone found outside his or her home without face masks in the state would be arrested by security agents.
