TheCable

The federal government has threatened to suspend over the failure of some passengers to comply with COVID-19 protocols.

Speaking on a Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) breakfast programme on Monday, Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, said the Abuja-Kaduna service alone conveys about 4,000 people daily, hence the high risk of spreading the disease.

The minister said citizens must learn how to live with COVID-19, adding that face masks must be worn by everyone on board any service.

“If the Lagos-Ibadan passengers flout the COVID protocols, we will stop the train [services]. Don’t forget that we convey about 4,000 passengers in a day on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line,” he said.

“Now, imagine that about 20 persons have coronavirus. They can transmit the same to the entire 4,000 passengers. If we take 2,000 to Abuja and 2,000 to Kaduna, the rate of transmission will be very high. We can’t continue that way.

“The same is applicable to Lagos. For us, we insist that everybody must obey the protocols. Wear your mask throughout the journey till you step down.

“As far as we are concerned, we need to learn how to live with COVID-19. I really want to congratulate those that achieve this feat.”

Amaechi said the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases has delayed the inauguration of the Lagos-Ibadan service.

“We were to inaugurate it in the first week of January. We had to stop doing minor completion because of the rise in COVID-19 transmission,” the minister said.

“The timeline for the inauguration is dependent on COVID-19. If it stops today, we will need additional two weeks. It may not even need to stop completely.

“If it reduces drastically, we will be happy to go ahead and commission. This was our expectation but unfortunately, it shot up.”

Nigeria has so far recorded over 100,000 COVID cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

While 80,030 patients have recovered from the disease, 1,358 people have lost their lives.