'No guarantee for Nigerian returnees from France' - Foreign Minister

There is no guarantee for France returnees en route Cotonou to Nigeria, Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama has said.

Onyeama said their chances of coming into the country is subject to availability of accommodation and personnel for their isolation and quarantine in line with current travel protocol to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.


The minister, who spoke during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 Control, assured that the ministry would liaise with the country’s Charge ‘de Affairs and the two states bordering Benin Republic.

The minister was responding to an inquiry by Nigerians in France on the possibility of boarding a flight to Cotonou and then come into the country through the land border.

He said: “When the question was asked, I have the benefit of sitting next to the Minister of Interior, who also is responsible for the land border of our country. But essentially, the thing is this: we have a protocol in place; we can only take people according to number of facilities for one that we have available where they will be quarantined for two weeks when we have adequate staffing to monitor them for a period of two weeks.

“So, that is really the pre-condition for an approval for anybody to come in from outside. As you know, I have reported here in the past that we have taken in almost a hundred of Nigerians that have come in through the land boarders from Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. So, the possibility is there but first and foremost, we have to be sure that we have the requisite capacity to take in those pas angers.”