The Police Command in Enugu State says it will set up COVID-19 mobile court to ensure strict compliance with directives of Federal and state governments to check the spread of the pandemic.
The state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Ahmad Abdurrahman, made this known on Friday during a meeting with leaders of markets in the state on how to ensure compliance of residents with COVID-19 directives.
Abdurrahman said that the setting up of a mobile court to ensure compliance had become necessary following the daily rise in COVID-19 cases in the state and the need to protect every resident.
He noted that it was regrettable that the state COVID-19 cases were very low initially with the state recording only two after about a month, after which it rose to the level of a score daily.
Abdurrahman said the meeting was called to have open interaction on how stakeholders on how to ensure compliance by residents.
“The Police Command can only do little without your active collaboration; even as we know that the various market leaderships are critical stakeholders to the overall security of the state.
“Before now, the command had embarked on massive persuasion and enlightenment on the benefits of compliance to the COVID-19 safety directives to all. But, we are no longer going to plead again on the matter.
“I want us to brainstorm to ensure that collectively we come up with new modalities to ensure our people comply with the Federal and state governments directives especially on wearing face masks and physical distance,” he said.
READ ALSO: Just in: Noel Donjur, Lalong’s Chief of Staff tests positive for COVID-19
Earlier, Chief Emmanuel Eke, a member of Ogbete Main Market Caretaker Committee, complained of the low compliance in “simply wearing of face mask’’.
Eke suggested that the best way of ensuring compliance was by the police having firm enforcement as well as setting up a punitive mobile court for offenders.
Chief Christian Ngwuoke, Caretaker Chairman of Coal Camp Market, also supported the call for a police back-up mobile court to punish offenders to serve as a deterrent to others.
Ngwuoke explained that some people put on the mask in order to pass the entry point in his market, but they immediately put it off and place it back in their bags or pockets.
The Chairman of Kenyatta Main Market, Chief Chinwiuba Igwesi, urged the police to check the holding of unauthorised meetings in the market that went against rules of social and physical distancing.
“I will advise the command to put up an official write- up in markets on ‘dos and don’ts’, and punishment for offenders in this period as well as paste such write- up strategically in locations in the markets,” Igwesi said. (NAN)
