Date: 2020-05-05

Residents of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, flagrantly violated the social distancing and mandatory use of face masks on Monday, the first day of the relaxed COVID-19 restrictions order by the state government.

Visits by DAILY POST to commercial banks and major markets in Ilorin metropolis, showed that majority of the customers did not observe strictly the social distancing and face masks wearing as part of the safety protocols spelt out by the state government in the efforts to reopen the economy and curb the community transmission of the deadly virus.

Also, buyers at most of the markets and traders particularly at Zango, Ipata, Akerebiata,Yoruba road, and Oja-Oba, who wore the face masks did not observe the social distancing guidelines and only very few provided hand sanitizers for buyers who patronized them.

However, few well-established shops, hospitals and petrol filling stations provided hand-washing facilities and sanitizers for customers and patients.

At all the commercial banks located on Muhammed Murtala Road, in Ilorin, hundreds of customers were seen struggling to gain entrance at the gates of the banks without adherence to social distancing safety protocol.

Similarly, taxi cabs and Keke Napep operators who exceeded the number of passengers they are allowed to carry by the guidelines were stopped at checkpoints by security operatives and compelled to comply with the government's directive.

DAILY POST reports that Okada operators still had a field day despite the ban by the state government not to operate.

The state government had on Friday, warned that violations against the relaxed COVID-19 restrictions order will be resisted and punished; as it made wearing of face masks and social distancing compulsory safety protocols to be observed by all residents.

In the guidelines, the government directed among other things that marketers should not attend to buyers who come to the markets without wearing that face masks, while that market associations should control activities and avoid overcrowding.

The government also prescribed the minimum number of passengers to be carried at a time by taxi cabs, commercial buses and Keke Napep operators involved in intra-city services.