The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, yesterday said commercial bus drivers and their conductors are aiding the spread of COVID-19 in the state. The police boss made this revelation at a press conference held at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja.
He said that investigation carried out by the command revealed that for fear of arrest, commercial bus drivers and their conductors have now resulted in buying nose masks, which they in-turn share to passengers who are not wearing any.

Odumosu disclosed that the drivers and their conductors collect the nose masks from the passenger when he or she is disembarking. He said that by so doing, drivers and their conductors were aiding the spread of the pandemic.
“We urge the leadership of the various unions to educate their members. Anyone arrested involved in this act would not be spared. The driver would be prosecuted along with his conductor,” he said.

Odumosu, who also gave a breakdown of the command’s achievement recorded during the lockdown period, said the command arrested 2,310 violators of the lockdown order. He said that out of the number, a total of 2,185 violators were charged to court and at the end of the trial, they were awarded various punishments, while the command freed 125 suspects, who were mostly under-age offenders.

“Our enforcement teams impounded 2,092 vehicles, comprising 800 private vehicles and 1,292 commercial vehicles. We equally impounded 1,535 motorcycles and 369 tricycles. With the pronouncement of the gradual easing of the lockdown by the government last week, the command adopted more effective measures and strategies to enforce the curfew imposed from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. daily as well as the ban on non-essential inter-states movement.

“Our teams were also deployed to ensure that Lagosians obey the guidelines regarding opening and closing time for businesses, workplaces, markets; the use of facemask in public places; the number of passengers per commercial vehicle and maintaining social distancing principles” he added.

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COVID-19: Drivers, conductors aiding spread of coronavirus, police boss laments.