The federal government has again declared 132 Nigerians as “persons of interest” for violating the COVID-19 travel protocol by evading the mandatory 7-day quarantine for persons arriving from restricted countries.
The Presidential Steering Committee, PSC, on COVID-19 had on 1st May, 2021 issued a Travel Advisory for Passengers arriving Nigeria from Brazil, India and Turkey.
The PSC had last week declared 27 foreigners and 62 Nigerians as persons of interest and flagged their Nigerian travelling passports.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF and Chairman of the PSC, Mr Boss Mustapha, who disclosed this in a statement issued Thursday in Abuja said the precautionary measures are a necessary step to mitigate the risk of importation of variants of concern and break the chain of transmission to the population.
Under the new measures, passengers arriving from/or who have visited any of the above three countries within 14 days prior to the visit to Nigeria, are required to follow mandatory arrival quarantine and testing protocols in designated facilities.
He said the returnees “have been declared Persons of Interest (POI) on account of posing considerable danger to overall public health and for the violation of Nigeria COVID-19 travel protocol by evading the mandatory 7-day quarantine for persons arriving from restricted countries.
“The PSC shall in addition, take further steps to sanction these violators. These steps include: Disabling their travel passports for a period not less than one year;Cancelation of visas/permits of foreigners that have abused Nigeria’s hospitality, and prosecution under the 2021 Health Protection Regulations”, he added.
