VIDEO: How Transporters Defy Inter State Travel Ban Along Kano-Kaduna Road

VIDEO: How Transporters Defy Inter State Travel Ban Along Kano-Kaduna Road

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CghUqhYeljk[/embedyt]

AREWA AGENDA – Whether it’s on the three window days approved by the State Government for movement within Kano or on any other day under restrictions, it is not unusual to see intending travelers anxiously standing by, waiting for vehicles that will soon appear to briskly whisk them away around the Lado bridge (Gadan Lado) axis in Unguwa-Uku down to Naibawa area of the State.

While the transporters are seeking to make brisk business in order to cope under the prevailing circumstance, the travelers simply care more about getting to their destination by any means.

Before they onboard, one will notice the travelers, most of the time, clutching to either nylon bags that are resting faithfully on their knee caps or holding firmly to backpacks strapped on their backs as they look to make the journey to either Zaria, Kaduna, Abuja or even beyond.

This reporter boarded one of those vehicles from Kano to Zaria in Kaduna State and back on the same day in order to find out ways in which these travelers defy inter State travel ban to elude enforcement authorities and deliver satisfaction to their ‘customers.’

As the Journey commenced, our vehicle, a Volkwagen Golf, sped out of the city stopping only twice to pick up one more passenger in the front seat and refueling. As it was a window day for Kano, there were no road blocks on the trip out of the city.

After driving for about forty minutes thereabouts, we came to a village where a man, probably in his early fourties flagged us down and motioned us to take the route into the village. “Nan ake bi, nan ake bi (this is the route, this is the route)” he said in Hausa as he directed us to drive on after exchanging hands with the driver. This was Kariya, the village where the diversion on the road to Kaduna begins.

As we navigated our way through the village, it was long, bumpy and sometimes very narrow making it practically impossible for two vehicles to pass at a time. No matter the distance, on spotting an oncoming vehicle, the one with a safer spot to park will have to pull over and wait for the other to pass, even at that, the risk of scratching each other is almost guaranteed.

At various intersections and corners through the village, some of the villagers are seen filling up portholes with sand as they rely on the mercy of drivers for tips.
Finally, we arrived at a junction which leads to Paki village to the right and on the left is our route to reconnect with the Kano – Kaduna highway.

After driving for another 15mins, we arrived Tashan Ango junction where we will be reconnecting to the highway after successfully eluding enforcement authorities that have mounted road blocks in the areas we avoided by following the village route.

What is most striking about places as we drove from Tashan Ango in Ikara Local Government Area of Kaduna State, through Ruma in Makarfi Local Government Area, Taskar Tsamiya and Kauran Wali in Kudan Local Government Area of the State, is the business as usual as one will notice almost always a beehive of activities from street markets, to children hawking and even social gatherings within the slightest sign of consciousness that a new virus is in town.

Prior to this investigation, Governor Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State had blamed the influx of people into the State on some corrupt security agents, accusing them of sabotaging government’s efforts in curtailing the COVID-19 pandemic had vowed to personally patrol the Kano-Kaduna boundary during the eid-el-fitri so that nobody from Kano State would sneak into his state.

“I will ensure that I personally visit and patrol the Kaduna-Kano boundary on Sallah day and I will remain there from morning till night to see who will dare enter Kaduna State. I will not leave there until late at night,” the governor said during a media chat with some select Radio stations in the State.

The people of Kano found the statement to be offensive and a row between indegene of both States ensued, and raged on for almost a week on the internet under the hashtag #KanoVsKaduna.

Two days after El-rufai’s statement, Governor Ganduje angrily responded, saying in a statement through his press secretary that 30 vehicles that were trying to sneak into Kano from Kaduna State were “apprehended” by security agents at Kwanar Dangora, and their drivers were fined by a mobile court.

He said they were arrested for defying the ban on inter-state travel. He added, more offensively, that he had ordered security agents “to be extra vigilant to make sure that kidnappers, bandits, armed robbers, cattle rustlers, vanguards of religious extremism and other criminal elements do not cross the border from Kaduna to Kano.”
El-Rufa’i delivered on his threat and was seen on Sallah Day darting from one state border to another to enforce the travel ban but travelers who ply the route are of the opinion that the effort was useless.

“Even the follwong day after the Governor made the declarion I still travlled and a lot of people still went to Kaduna on Eid day.” Boasted one of the passengers onboard the vehicle that conveyed us to Zaria.

Travellers confirmed to Arewa Agenda that nothing has been stopped as the travel business continue, though under unusual circumstances as they sometimes have to either bribe enforcement authorities to pass or they cut them off completely by following hidden and rough routes.

“This is what we depend on to survive, we cannot just stay at home and allow hunger to kill us” said one of the transporters who didn’t want to be mentioned but affirmed the he knows he was defying order.

However, not all the traveling are journeying for the business of survival. One of the passengers who was onboard the same vehicle with this reporter was overheard on the phone telling his call party that he had, travelled to go and greet his mum and he was “hoping to reach Obajana (in Kogi State)” the same day.
Followinth the intrusion of the novel Coronavirus in Nigeria, Federal and State Government had imposed ban on Inter State travel as part of measures to curb spread of the virus. The State governors however flagarantly violated this ban by transporting Almajiri children across various States of the Federation, sparking reactions from various quarters including the Charman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF), Boss Mustapha.

While domestic flights are expected to resume on 21st of June, 2020 amidst careful control measures, Nigrian Government may remove the restriction on interstate travels on June 21, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 Sani Aliyu said.
The interstate borders have been closed since March to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

But Aliyu said the restrictions may be relaxed when domestic flights resume tentatively on June 21.

Arewa Agenda is a publication of young writers from Northern Nigeria towards National Development and Peaceful Coexistence through positive narratives.