COVID-19: Essential services workers decry ban on motorcycles, tricycles in Nasarawa
The ban on commercial motorcycles and tricycles by the Nasarawa state government has caused a lot of hardship to workers delivering essential services in the state.
A cross section of the concerned workers have narrated the difficulties they go through to get to their offices in an interview with our correspondent on Friday in Lafia.
The likes of lgbawase Ukumba, Michael David and Kuza Augustine, of Thisday, Independent and Daily Times Newspapers said they could not go to the Correspondents Chapel’s office of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) that is located at the Abacha Youth Centre in Lafia which is many kilometers away from their houses.
They noted that the office is very far from their respective houses and they do not have any means of transportation as they rely on motorcycles and tricycles.
They lamented that even if their attention is needed for any emergency, they cannot make it to the destination.
They correspondents of the above newspapers therefore, appealed to the state government to make provision for mobility to convey journalists to cover assignment when necessary
Also lamenting was Linus Oota of The Nation Newspaper, who managed to go to the office, said it was not easy getting there.
He said that he had to call his brother who has a car to transport him from the polytechnic where he resides to the office.
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Oota therefore, appealed to the state government to direct the security agencies to allow journalists to pass even if they are being conveyed by commercial motorcycles.
Recall that Governor Abdullahi Sule had banned commercial motorcycles and tricycles effecting from April 24.
The governor said that commercial motorcycles and tricycles were sabotaging the efforts of the government to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state as they conveyed people into the state from states that have recorded confirmed cases of the virus.
The Daily Times reports that although, there is no confirmed case of COVID-19 in the state, but the state government has, taken some preventive measures due to its proximity to Benue and Kaduna states as well as the FCT with confirmed COVID-19 cases.
