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To avoid the spread of the latest coronavirus, Nigerian police will urgently send additional units to Lagos and Ogun states to tackle an upsurge in crime committed during a lockout. Police spokesman Frank Mba said Monday that the intelligence, organizational, and tactical units on the border between the two states will respond to violence by “hoodlums and street urchins.” Police have detained 191 suspects in Lagos and Ogun who are under a federally imposed curfew, which started on March 30 along with Abuja’s capital territory. They also rounded up 15 guns made locally, 52 live cartridges and 42 cutlasses and axes.
Other states in the nation of some 200 million people have imposed their own containment measures, including lockdowns. While health experts have said curtailing social and economic activity is crucial for stemming the spread of the novel virus, the restrictions have sparked some unrest as many in Nigeria live on daily wages with no savings. President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to address the nation on Monday evening and announce whether the initial 14-day lockdown period will be extended. Mba said the inspector general of police had ordered police commissioners nationwide to take steps “to effectively tackle all emerging crimes associated with the COVID-19 lockdown”.
“They are also intended to strengthen patrols in their jurisdictions around residential areas, markets, shopping malls, and other vital national infrastructure,” he said. Nigeria reported 323 cases of coronavirus, of which 179 were in the state of Lagos, and 10 people died.