The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, on Sunday, warned Nigerians, especially from neighbouring states not to flout Federal Government’s directive as security agencies have reviewed their strategies on enforcing the ban on interstate travel and as well adopted new ones to ensure its complete compliance.
He declared that full wrath of the law would fall on anybody, who for any reason, flouts the order.
A statement emanated from the office of his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Anthony Ogunleye, after the end of a security meeting with paramilitary, and made available to journalists in Abuja, reiterated the commitment of the FCT administration to beef up enforcement of the guidelines regulating the easing of the lockdown in the FCT starting from Monday.
He said the ban on interstate travel was essential in order to prevent the spread of the virus either by infected persons coming into the territory, or, on the other hand, infected persons from the FCT spreading the virus to other parts of the country.
According to him: “I must caution and warn that anybody who, for any reason, flouts the directives of the government and is arrested, the full wrath of the law will fall on that person because we will not allow a few citizens who are not conscious of the wellbeing of the majority of other citizens to put all of us at risk.
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“We also realized that one weak area that has confronted us is the fact that enforcement of the inter-state movement has not been very successful and that’s an area where if we are not very careful, will make it very difficult for us to prevent infection by people who are visiting the FCT from other parts of the country. By the same token also, if the enforcement is not very strong, infected people from the FCT will also move out to other states. At the end of the day, nationally, we all lose,” he explained.
The minister also revealed that the security agencies would deploy additional personnel and resources to all the entry points using coordinated joint teams to be headed by very senior officers to ensure that the enforcement of the directive is carried out totally while being conscious of those that are permitted to move around.
“The ultimate objective of the FCTA and the security agencies is to safeguard the lives of the citizens of the FCT and by extension, the citizens of the surrounding states and Nigerians in general,” he added.
While reminding residents of the FCT on the guidelines regulating the easing of the lockdown released earlier, the minister advised residents to comply with the guidelines as that was the only way to ensure that the pandemic is controlled and contained in the FCT.
“If you see how hard the security agencies have been working day and night, how hard the medical personnel have been working day and night, we owe them gratitude by ensuring that we comply with all protocols established, regarding health control and security control,” he pleaded.