A Travelogue In The Season of Coronavirus Pandemic Inter State Lockdown ! By Adeola Soetan

A Travelogue In The Season of Coronavirus Pandemic Inter State Lockdown ! By Adeola Soetan .

There are three “covid-19 border posts” between Abeokuta and Ibadan if you are passing through Asero – Odeda – Apata route.

The first border post is few kilometres to Bakatari. Here, passengers will disembark and trek across the checkpoint manned by armed policemen assisted by blue and red tapped uniformed men. The driver moves to see the “OC Covid” for “visa” fee negotiation. It ranges from N500 to N1000. After payment the driver picks his passengers who will be waiting for him by 100m from the border post

The second border post is Bakatari which is the boundary between Ogun and Oyo State. Again the passengers will disembark and walk across the checkpoint while the driver moves to another OC Covid for settlement. Because it’s inter-state border point, the visa fee here is higher depending on the negotiation ability of the driver.

Welcome to Oyo State now but not without settling the OC Covid at the third border post which is some few kilometres to Omi Adio. After the three covid border posts, you can now enter Ibadan like a freeborn and son of the soil.

At the Bakatari border post, business activities are always at peak. Many Okada riders are on standby to convey across the border to Ibadan many passengers who are dropped by their “drop & turn” commercial buses. Drop & turn buses come from Abeokuta, drop their passengers at Bakatari and return to Abeokuta. They only pay one border charge.

If you have traveled from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana by road, you will get the picture of “drop and trek” across border posts better.

The major reason passengers disembark and trek across border is to avoid the activities and police – driver transaction from being secretly recorded and splashed on social media.

This covid-19 season will definitely produce new set of millionaire policemen as politics produces new set of emergency millionaire and billionaire politicians daily. Miracle happens in different ways.