By Uzor Odigbo
The Nigerian government has warned that its officials and very important personalities (VIPs) who fail to undergo the mandatory Day 7 COVID-19 tests for in-bound travellers would be punished.
The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, gave the warning in a video uploaded by the Ministry of Information and Culture via its Twitter handle.
Last week, the federal government placed a six-month travelling ban on 100 passengers for failing to undergo the compulsory COVID-19 tests after returning into the country, from January 1, 2021, to June 30, 2021.
According to the PTF chieftain, the passport numbers of more defaulterss would be released weekly by the authorities.
Aliyu said, “We want to change people’s behaviour. We’ve shown that we are going to do it. We have done it and we will continue to do it every week until things change.
“It is not like we want to punish people but if you continue to put our country at risk, we will take action.
“Next week, we will publish another 100, subsequent weeks, we will continue to publish until we see an improvement in terms of the compliance. So, whether you are a VIP, whether you are a government official, whether you are in a leadership position, if you do not follow the travel protocols, there will be repercussions.
“The essence of doing the entire exercise is to force people to comply with our protocols.”