The Federal Government has banned over 2,000 Nigerians and foreigners from traveling abroad and into the country for a period of one year.
The National Incident Manager (NIM) of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Mukhtar Muhammad, made this known during a press briefing in Abuja on Monday.
Muhammad disclosed that the Nigerians and foreigners were banned for evading the coronavirus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test at the country’s international airports.
He added that the names of over 2,000 citizens and foreigners had been pasted at all the major federal medical facilities in the country.
Muhammad said the government had insisted that passengers, who arrived the country, especially from high-risk countries, must be quarantined in a government-provided facility, and that the passports of those who failed to comply with the protocol had been 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 penalized by publishing their names, as well as suspending their passports for one year.
“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,” he said.
The Steering Committee issued a Travel Advisory for Passengers arriving in Nigeria from Brazil, India, and Turkey.
The precautionary measures were a necessary step to mitigate the risk of importation of variants of concern and breaking the chain of transmission to the population, according to the chairman, Boss Mustapha.
Under the measures, passengers arriving from/or that have visited any of these three countries within fourteen (14) days prior to the visit to Nigeria, were required to follow mandatory arrival quarantine and testing protocols in designated facilities.
But many passengers failed to observe the compulsory isolation or to present themselves for the PCR repeat test on day seven, various findings have shown.
The Steering Committee had previously also published names and passport numbers of defaulters.
