FG Bans Over 2,000 Nigerians From Traveling in Connection With The COVID-19 Test

Over 2,000 Nigerians and foreigners have been banned from traveling abroad and into the country for a year by the Federal Government’s Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19.

This is for avoiding the country’s international airports’ coronavirus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test.

Mukhtar Muhammad, the Presidential Steering Committee’s (PSC) National Incident Manager (NIM), revealed this at a briefing in Abuja.

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Muhammad stated that the names of over 2,000 citizens and foreigners were pasted at all major federal medical facilities where medical experts were assigned to provide care to Nigerians and foreigners who entered the country during the COVID-19 third wave.

He claimed that the government had insisted that passengers arriving in the country, particularly from high-risk countries, be quarantined in a government-run facility, and that those who did not follow the protocol had their passports revoked for a year.

“We have included the provision of quarantine for passengers arriving from high-risk countries, and people who evaded these protocols have been penalized by their names being published and their passports being suspended for a year,” he said.

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“Let me assure you that we have published the names of more than 2,000 people who have evaded quarantine in our health facilities so far. And we’ve already taken steps to suspend their passports, so there are consequences for every action.”

According to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), the PSC issued a Travel Advisory for Passengers Arriving in Nigeria from Brazil, India, and Turkey on May 1, 2021.

According to the chairman, Boss Mustapha, the precautionary measures were necessary to reduce the risk of importation of concern variants and breaking the chain of transmission to the population.

Passengers arriving from/or visiting any of these three countries within fourteen (14) days of their visit to Nigeria were required to adhere to mandatory arrival quarantine and testing protocols in designated facilities under the measures.

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However, according to various findings, many passengers failed to comply with the mandatory isolation or show up for the PCR repeat test on day seven.

Defaulters’ names and passport numbers had previously been made public by the PSC.