The Niger State Command of the Nigeria Police has warned the members of the organised transport sector in the state and beyond against embarking on night trips.
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The state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Adamu Usman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Friday said that the warning was occasioned by the lockdown order.
“Any person or group of people found violating the lockdown order by making night journeys will be arrested and prosecuted under the state covid-19 order,” he said.
He said that the command had already reached out to the leaders of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and National Association of Road Transport Owners ( NARTO and other public transporters to impress on their members to desist from night trips.
Usman said that the breach of the existing restriction order by resorting to night travels was a development that had proven to be counter productive as it had undermined the tireless efforts of the State Government at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
The Commissioner said that intelligence report indicated that transport workers, especially inter-state operators, had continued to defy the lockdown order by embarking on night trips.
He said that already Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers in the state had been directed to ensure full implementation of the lockdown order, especially, as it related to night trips with regards to categories of exempted persons.
” The lock down is for 24hours daily except for window periods. Night hours are not excluded, inter/intra state movements across the state remain banned,” Usman said.
The Commissioner called on the residents of the state to continue to cooperate with the Police and other security agencies deployed to enforce the lockdown order to curtail the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
” We will sustain our ongoing aggressive patrols across all the major highways to ensure strict compliance with the lockdown order.
” For any complaints, the command can be reached on the following numbers; 08032233454, 08081777498 and 07031964389, Rapid Respond Unit (RRU) 08140502202, 08137766277 and its Control room.