COVID-19: Osun barricades borders to enforce restriction of movement

As part of steps to ensure total compliance with its lockdown directive made to contain the spread of COVID-19, Osun State government has mounted barricades at all boundaries leading into the state and on major roads.

This development came against the backdrop of the announcement that the 14-day lockdown in the state was not a curfew, but a total lockdown with no human and vehicular movements.

The State Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs Funke Egbemode, who made this disclosure during an interview with newsmen on Tuesday, said the barricades were erected to restrict unauthorised movements across the state, adding that the government was intensifying efforts to flatten the curve of COVID-19 in the state and avoid a resurgence of the disease.

Egbemode said: “The government is determined to protect Osun and its citizens. Hence, this move by the government is to keep defiant people from hurting themselves and endangering others.

“The barricades will only be opened to essential duty vehicles, conveying materials needed for the fight against COVID-19. Non-essential travels and movements remain banned in Osun until further notice,” she added.

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Corroborating Egbemode, the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Adeleke Yekini Adebayo, who doubles as a member of the State COVID-19 Task Force, noted that the government installed physical barricades at its boundaries to ensure the safety of its citizens, stressing that the action was to prevent human and vehicular movements from neighbouring states with the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

He further said that the laws guiding the operation of the total lockdown and the general security of the people remain in force, adding that “relevant security agencies are on the alert to ensure total compliance of the regulation and guarantee safety and security of the people.”