By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria has barred more than 2,000 citizens from travelling abroad and foreigners from coming into the country for one year for evading Coronavirus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test at Nigerian airports.
Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) National Incident Manager, Mukhtar Muhammed, disclosed in Abuja that their names have been sent to federal medical facilities to take care of them, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said the government has directed passengers coming into the country from high-risk regions to be quarantined in a government-provided facility and that the passports of those who fail to comply are suspended for one year.
“We have included the provision of quarantine for passengers who arrived from high-risk countries and people who evaded these protocols have been penalised by publishing their names, as well as suspending their passports for one year,” he said.
“Let me assure you that so far we have published the list of over 2,000 people who evaded quarantine in our health facilities. And we have gone ahead to ensure that their passports are suspended, so, for every action there are consequences.”
Nairametrics recalls that in December 2020 the government announced the suspension for six months of the passports of 100 Nigerians who refused to undergo second Covid-19 tests immediately after arriving in the country.
The government also published their passport numbers for flouting the tests within seven days of arrival from overseas travel.
Flouting the rules
PSC Chairman Boss Mustapha on May 1 issued a travel advisory for passengers arriving in Nigeria from Brazil, India, and Turkey to mitigate the risk of importation of variants of concern and breaking the chain of transmission to the population.
Passengers arriving from/or who have visited any of the three countries within 14 days prior to arriving in Nigeria are to follow mandatory arrival quarantine and testing protocols in designated facilities, per Vanguard.
But findings have shown that many passengers fail to observe isolation or to present themselves for the PCR to repeat tests on day seven.
