The Federal and state governments have been urged to take stiff, disciplinary actions against law enforcement officials positioned at state boundaries, who have resorted to extorting citizens flouting the Federal Government’s orders on inter-state travels.
Making its finding from the six geo-political zones known during a press conference on Monday, the non-governmental organisation, CLEEN Foundation (formerly known as the Centre for Law Enforcement Education), said it has 498 reports on conduct of security personnel enforcing government directives and 227 reports on human rights violations by security personnel enforcing government directives on COVID19 pandemic.
While presenting its report to the media on Monday, the foundation, through its Executive Director, Benson Olugbuo,Ph.D, disclosed that “at Okaki Junction (Rivers State), which is one of the boundaries between Rivers and Bayelsa in the eastern part of the state, security operatives were seen extorting motorists to enable them enter the state. Some of these officers were however swiftly apprehended by the new Police leadership in the state.
“In Ekiti State, reports from border LGAs such as Ikere, Emure, Ekiti South West, Moba, Ekiti West etc. indicate that security agents extort between N200 and N5000 from travellers to allow movement in and out of the state. A bus full of travellers, allegedly from Sokoto State, was intercepted at Afao-Ekiti in Irepodun/Ifelodun LGA within the period under review.
“Residents of Ondo State border communities also alleged that security officials engage in extortion in exchange for free passage of travellers at night. Also, it was reported that nine Almajiri children brought from Kano State were sent back at the entrance of Akure after they had passed many check-points.
“In Niger State, North Central Nigeria, it showed an increase in interstate travels, especially within Shiroro LGA.
“In Benue State, transporters were observed to utilise the nights for inter-state travels, despite the ban on non-essential inter-state travels. In Kogi State, observers reported that security personnel were seen extorting transporters to the sum of N3000 each to allow passage through the Abaji/Lokoja Expressway,” Olugbuo said.
As part of its recommendations, the foundation called on security agencies to “sustain internal disciplinary measures to discipline personnel who are guilty of extorting citizens and violating human rights” in the execution of their duties, so as to ensure that it serves as a deterrent to other officers.
Also, in another recommendation, the foundation said, seeing as it observed that, at the ease of the lockdown, most Nigerian thronged their banks, without respect to social distancing, use of hand sanitisers, it would serve the nation better if “commercial banks are encouraged to set up more branches, especially in urban areas with high population, as this will support social distancing measures by bank customers”.
As at Sunday 17th May 2020, Nigeria had recorded 5959 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 182 deaths and 1594 discharged cases. Despite the rising numbers and apprehension from concerned citizens, some citizens appear to live in denial regarding the existence of the virus disease in Nigeria.
