OMICRON: NASS Condemns UK Govt’s Travel Ban On Nigeria

Nigeria’s National Assembly has risen in condemnation of the United Kingdom Government’s action of imposing travel ban on the country due to outbreak of Omicron variant of COVID-19 disease.

At the Senate plenary session on Tuesday, Senator Ike Ekweremadu representing Enugu West senatorial district, speaking through a motion, condemned the action of the British Government towards Nigeria in the Omicron saga, describing it as unfair in all intents and purposes.

Ekweremadu pointed out that the decision would seriously affect Nigerians living in the UK who planned to spend the Christmas Holiday with their families and also affect those who may want to travel to the UK for some important engagements during the festive season.

He said “We are worried that the decision by the British Government to include Nigeria in their COVID-19 list, with its concomitant implications, will affect many citizens of Nigeria, who had planned to spend their Christmas and New Year holiday with their families.

He noted that Nigeria is among countries with the lowest number of cases of COVID-19, and has always complied with all protocols for containing the pandemic as set by the World Health Organisation (WHO), wondering why the UK government included the country in its red list.

Senator Ekweremadu also stated that targeting African countries especially in the COVID-19 travel ban amounts to discrimination as well as an attack on Nigeria’s cordial diplomatic relationship with the UK.

He also reiterated the global concerns over the observed hoarding of vaccines and inequity in distribution, noting that such attitude no doubt has great negative “consequences on low-income nations in the fight against COVID-19.”

The Upper Chamber called on the British government to consider reversing the ban on Nigeria in order to maintain the cordial diplomatic relationship enjoyed by the two countries.

In a similar vein, the minority leader, House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu also condemned the action of the British government.

Moving a motion of urgent public importance, Elumelu called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to interface with the UK government to reverse the ban.