By CHUKWUEMEKA OPARA

Ebonyi government says it has adopted new tactics at its boundaries to check the illegal entry of persons allegedly conveying goods and other essentials to the state.

Mr Uchenna Orji, Commissioner for Information and Orientation, disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abakaliki.

Orji said that men of the taskforce at the boundaries now accompanied such vehicles conveying goods to their destinations in the state after thorough and medical checks on the drivers.

“When the goods are discharged, the driver will be accompanied back to the boundary for onward return to where he came from.

“The condition for any transporter to come into the state is that such person will be accompanied by only one passenger.

“The contents and the entire vehicle will be searched thoroughly and a health check conducted on both persons with the infra-rayed thermometers, among other equipment.

“They will also observe precautionary measures of hand washing, use of sanitisers, among others,” he said.

The commissioner said that the government had also adopted a policy of not sending back Ebonyi indigenes seen at the boundaries back to where they came from but carry out checks to ascertain their health status.

“The taskforce members do not arrest the returnees to avoid physical contacts but the vehicles conveying them are commanded to follow the taskforce vehicles to the state’s quarantine centre in Abakaiki.

“Returnees who do not have means of getting to the centre are put in the taskforce vehicles which had been decontaminated.

“When they get to the quarantine centre, the vehicles are still decontaminated while the returnees are quarantined and thoroughly checked medically before allowed into the state,” he said.

He added that those who test positive would be transferred to the state’s isolation centre for adequate care. (NAN)

Update news