Health minister say Nigeria has no plans to reciprocate British travel ban for now

HEALTH minister Dr Osagie Ehanire has stated that Nigeria has no plans to reciprocate the UK's recent travel ban introduced under the guise of combating the Covid-19 pandemic by restricting the movement on Britons into the country.

As part of a plan to ease the lockdown and return to normality, the UK introduced a traffic light health structure with countries placed on green, amber and red lists. Up until Saturday, Nigeria had been on the amber list, which is not as good as green, which gives citizens the all-clear but it is not as bad as red, which bars Britons from travelling to those countries for leisure purposes.

Being on the red list also subjects citizens of the country to certain Draconian quarantine measures, including that when they return to Britain, they must go into isolation in a hotel for about two weeks. On Saturday, Nigeria was placed on the red list, meaning that anyone who returns from Nigeria to the UK, must now be isolated in a hotel for 10 days at a cost of about £2,000.

This has created outrage among Nigerian diasporans, who see it as a blatant case of racist immigration control under the guise of combating the pandemic. Already a petition has been launched and once it attracts 10,000 signatures, the UK House of Commons will be compelled by law to debate the matter,.

There have already been calls for Nigeria to reciprocate with retaliatory action but the federal government is so far resisting this, saying there are no plans at the moment to restrict foreigners from travelling into the country. Speaking while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today last night, Dr Ehanire said the knee-jerk reaction of some countries was unfortunate bit Nigeria will not follow suit.

British health secretary Sajid Javid, said the new measures became necessary as a result of the increasing number of cases of the new Omicron variant was first detected late last month. Over the last week, Nigeria has been handed travel bans by Canada, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

According to Dr Ehanire, however, most of the in-bound passengers that tested positive for Covid-19 in Nigeria were from the UK. He added that even the World Health Organisation had said recently that countries should focus more on working together, rather than shutting borders.

Dr Ehanire said: “At the moment we have no plans restricting anybody coming from another country. We are watching what the science community is saying and of course not rushing to judgment and we are also not applauding any lockdowns or any prohibitions or banning of flights or movement of people until we know more.

“We believe that the harm it will do to livelihoods and economies may be more than the perceived value that will be derived from shutting movement between countries. I believe countries should come together to take a common approach and that includes the UK and other countries contemplating a red list.”

UK health authorities have announced that it found 21 cases of the Omicron variant which were linked to Nigeria. As a result, flights from Nigeria have been restricted and  all pending visa applications have also been suspended.