The National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Plateau, says the state borders which are meant to be closed as part of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the state, are porous.

The Director of NOA in the state, Mr Bulus Dabit, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Jos that people from other states have continued to gain access into Plateau.

Dabit noted that security officials from the neighbouring states constituted the highest number of persons who trooped into Plateau unhindered.

“I am afraid to say that the borders in Plateau State are still porous because people have continued to make their way into the state unhindered”.

“I have observed that most of these people are security officials and because they have solidarity among themselves, they pass through checkpoints easily”.

“I also believe that when they go back to their communities, people will be scared to ask them questions or report them because they are security officials”.

“l want government to look into this before it gets out of hand,” he said.

He called on government to evolve a community driven surveillance structure to checkmate the inflow of people into the state, so as to ensure easy tracking of suspected COVID-19 cases and nipping the spread in the bud.

He said that surveillance should not be left to the medical and security teams alone as people have devised new methods to enter the state.

“There should be a community driven surveillance structure that will help people in the community identify and report people who come into the state.

“Traditional rulers should be made to set up community surveillance groups that will identify and report people who go into their communities without submitting themselves to authority for testing”.

”They should be mainstreamed into the surveillance structure in the fight against coronavirus,” he said.

The state director of NOA also noted that people were not observing social distancing in the state.

According to him, water scarcity, insufficient money in banks and ATMs as well as hunger are some of the “natural factors” that could militate against social distancing.

”There are some socio-cultural issues that will naturally make social distancing difficult. Imagine if there is water scarcity and so many people want to fetch water at the same time.

”Long queues at the ATM’s and banks will make social distancing impossible.

“Hunger is also a cause, because when palliative is being shared people gather in a place and this is very dangerous,” he noted.

Dabit said that distribution of palliatives should be better managed so as to avoid overcrowding when such gestures are made. (NAN)