The federal government Wednesday announced an indefinite suspension of the evacuation of stranded Nigerians abroad over COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, who disclosed this at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on the Control of COVID-19, said the suspension would remain pending when new protocols on testing would be put in place.
“The issue of quarantining in hotels would no longer be feasible,” he said.He explained that the evacuation was suspended to give room for new measures that would require citizens returning from overseas to get tested and self-isolate at home rather than in designated hotels.
“There is going to be a change in that protocol and that is going to affect the timing of any further evacuation we are going to undertake.
“Anybody that is going to be evacuated will first of all undergo a test from the countries they are leaving from, at least five days before travel and not later than nine days before.
“That will be a pre-condition for boarding the flights to Nigeria. And if they are positive, they will not be able to board the flight.
“On arrival in Nigeria, Aliko Dangote and his other partners will have in place these units where they will take samples from the passengers coming in and they will retain their passports.
“The passengers will then be able to go home and not into prescribed hotels to self-isolate. Results from those samples will then be ready within a day or two; those who are positive will then be taking in for isolation.
“The whole issue of quarantining in hotels will no longer be necessary. This can also mean more people can also come back more frequently, and it will be a lot easier than it has been up to now.
“What we have been asked to do is to cease or suspend all evacuations for now until this new structure is put into place. We are very hopeful that maybe by next week, we should be able to commence evacuation,” he said.
The minister said about 1,000 Nigerians have so far been evacuated including some Nigerian girls that were trafficked to Lebanon.
“We are able to evacuate 69 Nigerians, 50 trafficked Nigerian girls from Lebanon and 19 other Nigerians, and they all arrived safely and are in quarantine,” he said.
He thanked the Lebanese community in Nigeria who “funded the cost of flight and hotel accommodation for the trafficked girls.”Also speaking, Minister of Environment, Mr Mohammad Abubakar, said decontamination in all the six geopolitical zones has commenced
