How Lagos apprehended group of Almajirai hidden in truck transporting goods
A group of suspected Almajirai hidden in a truck transporting goods to Lagos were apprehended by the security operatives of the Central Business District (CBD) on Wednesday, the Special Adviser to Lagos Governor on CBD, has said.
The truck conveying the suspected Almajirai was intercepted at Apongbon area in Lagos Island. The Special Adviser, Olugbenga Oyerinde, described the development as worrisome given the clandestine way the culprits hid in the truck bringing goods to the State.
Since President Muhammadu Buhari announced lockdown and state governors also shut down their borders to prevent inter-state travels to curb the transmission of coronavirus, there have been reports of mass exodus of Almajaria from the north to other parts of the country. Since movement of food items is categorised under essential services exempted from the lockdown, the Almajirai have devised means of hiding in trucks conveying food items from the North to other parts of the country.
The Cross River State border taskforce said it intercepted and sent back five trucks with goods and Almajiri children at the Gakem-Benue border on May 6, three days after, another set of trucks carrying no fewer than 30 Almajiria was intercepted on May 9 at the same border.
Abia State also announced that it intercepted Almajiria hidden in cattle trucks at Enugu-Abia border, along the Enugu – Aba Highway on Tuesday May 5. Before then, the state said it had turned back several trucks conveying food items with several almajiris hiding in them at the same border.
On Tuesday May 12, the Ogun State also intercepted a truck loaded with about 30 Almajirai at Ado Odo/Ota, a border community between Lagos and Ogun state. They were covered with a tarpaulin inside the truck which was sent back. Another truck loaded with over 50 Almajiri men hiding under food items was also intercepted in Delta State on Monday 18.
In the past four weeks, the media has been awash with disturbing reports of inter-state movements of Almajirai in violation of the subsisting presidential order. Many Nigerians are, however, worried that the unchecked movement by security operatives could escalate the COVID-19 cases in the south, their fear is justified by reports that hundreds of Almajiri kids repatriated among Northern states have tested positive for coronavirus.
It was gathered that those intercepted in Lagos on Wednesday have been handed over to the appropriate quarters for necessary action.
Oyerinde, however, made it clear that the government will welcome genuine visitors and business owners into the State but will not tolerate the influx of miscreants who will constitute social nuisance into Lagos.
“The Central Business Management Office will not relent in its efforts to ensure that the Lagos Island Business Districts is safe to transact businesses at all times,” he said. “We will continue to clean up the entire business district to acceptable safety standards as well as ensure that all guidelines issued by the Federal and State Government against the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus disease are strictly adhered to”.
