By Iliya Kure
Nigeria has issued a strong warning to four countries, comprising United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Argentina for placing it on their Omicron “red list”.
The four have barred flights from Nigeria into their countries as part of restrictive measures to curtail spread of the virus.
Nigeria’s announcement is coming on a day after Daily Mail of London reported plans by UK to replace its travel red list this week with testing for fully vaccinated people.Acting Chairman of Nigeria’s Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 and Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, issued the warning at a briefing in Abuja.
According to Sirika, if the affected countries insist on their restrictive measures, the PSC would meet again and respond appropriately.
“With the emergence of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant, now spreading very fast globally, Nigeria has continued to study developments and has deployed science and data to measure the risks to our citizens, especially, the dangers of importation.
“The PSC wishes to assure Nigerians that it has escalated all surveillance and control measures around our country. It has similarly ramped up vaccination of eligible citizens and residents, while making provisions for booster shots for those fully vaccinated.
“The PSC is working with mandate Ministries to address the issues surrounding the restriction imposed by some countries on travelers from Nigeria on account of the Omicron variant. While each country is entitled to put in place measures to protect its citizens. Nigeria has similar responsibilities.
‘’However, based on existing relationships, Nigeria has initiated diplomatic steps to make these countries reverse their course. This is on-going in the interest of all parties concerned and we expect that positive results would emerge within the next one week.
“The PSC also evaluated the developments on the relationship between Nigeria and the UAE and we are pleased to inform you that the position of the Federal Government is in line with established International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO Protocols and the spirit of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement, BASA, signed with the UAE.
‘’Our sovereignty remains paramount and mutual respects shall be our guiding principle in as much as it should be in the best interest of Nigeria.
“If UK, Canada and others do not delist Nigeria from the red list, the truth is that COVID-19 is scientific and its management is scientific. We believe science is factual and we are deploying measures to save humans from dying.
‘’We strongly believe that they will respond and delist Nigeria. If not, it doesn’t make any sense for us to continue to put our citizens at risk. We will take the necessary steps to protect our citizens. After all, the Federal Government of Nigeria under Buhari’s administration has done extremely well in the management of COVID-19 till date”.
Commenting on the row between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sirika said Nigeria takes business of governance very seriously and would rather wait to receive official letter from the UAE which barred flights to Nigeria.