Covid-19: Govt lifts Interstate travel ban; dismantles security checkpoints

Convinced his state has routed back the invading Covd-19 virus that spread to Nigeria in Feb., Jigawa Gov. Badaru Abubakar has re-opened the state, including lifting inter-state travels and other social-distancing measures.

He has disbanded all the security checkpoints in on the state’s borders, too.

According to him, only one patient remains in the only isolation centre left open in the state.

He told newsmen at the state house on Saturday after seven of the last eight infected persons had been discharged.

“As we ease lockdown, lift ban on weekly market days and allow interstate travel, it is also necessary to disband the security posts at our borders with immediate effect,” he said.

” Their expertise would be deployed if need arises as we continue this arduous journey against the COVID-19 pandemic in the state. ”

The Nigeria Governors Forum agreed months ago to close inter-state bordersand restrict travels across the countrry–all in a bid to stem the rising tide of the pandemic in Nigeria.

Since the federal government eased some of the restrictions it imposed on the nation, cses of infection has risen up to over 18,000 cases, from about 5000 cases then.

Ad Badaru is he first governor to throw its state open in the north–where the infection rate has surged the highest.