COVID-19: Ekiti commences stricter checks of vehicles to stop illegal entries 

The Ekiti State Government has directed security agencies manning borders and checkpoints to henceforth carry out rigorous checks on vehicles conveying essential commodities across the length and breadth of the state.

The Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, said security agencies would henceforth search the interiors of all vehicles conveying food, medical and pharmaceuticals, beverages, agricultural products and construction materials coming in and going out of Ekiti State.

Egbeyemi, in a statement on Wednesday by his Special Assistant (Media), Odunayo Ogunmola, said security agencies are empowered to scrutinize the goods being transported in the state in a bid to look out for persons who may be hiding in the trucks to illegally and to ensure that illegal goods are not brought into the state.

He urged the people of the state to be more security conscious in their various localities and report strange faces and movements they notice to the government and security agencies.

The Deputy Governor noted that most of the COVID-19 cases recorded in Ekiti State were caused by non-residents who illegally entered the state in violation of the orders of the government and appropriate authorities.

He reiterated the determination of the Dr. Kayode Fayemi administration to protect all residents from being infected with the Coronavirus hence the need to block all illegal entries into the state.

Egbeyemi said: “This government will not fold its arms and allow some individuals to sabotage its efforts in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and safeguarding the health of the people.

“We hereby direct officers and men of security agencies at the borders and checkpoints to henceforth scrutinise the interiors of all vehicles coming into or passing through the state in search of the people who might be hiding inside.

“The Governor has directed that visits to and from Ekiti State are prohibited except in some essential cases while the pandemic subsists and the order is still in force. It is for our good and we must comply with it to defeat COVID-19.

“We also urge our people to be security conscious in their various localities and report strange faces and movements to the government and security agencies.”