The Nigerian Government has
reacted to the decision of the United Kingdom, UK, to put Nigeria on its red
list over the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Lai Mohammed, the Minister of
Information and Culture, expressed hope that the UK government would
immediately review and rescind its decision.
Addressing a press conference in
Abuja on Monday, Mohammed said the UK government’s decision was unjust, unfair,
punitive, indefensible, and discriminatory.
The minister said the decision
was not driven by science.
According to Mohammed: “As you
are aware, Britain has put Nigeria on its red list and banned foreign travels
from our country. This is as a result of the discovery of COVID-19 cases, the
Omicron variant, in Nigeria. Britain now joins other countries, including
Canada, which have taken similar action against Nigeria over Omicron.
“Let me say straight away that
it’s up to the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) to respond to this action
by the British Government and others, and I have no doubt that the committee
will respond appropriately.
“However, as the spokesman for
the Federal Government, I can say, without mincing words, that the decision by
the British Government to put Nigeria on the red list, just because of less
than two dozen cases of Omicron which, by the way, did not originate in
Nigeria, is unjust, unfair, punitive, indefensible and discriminatory. The
decision is also not driven by science.
“How do you slam this kind of
discriminatory action on a country of 200 million people, just because of less
than two dozen cases? Whereas British citizens and residents are allowed to
come in from Nigeria, non-residents from the same country are banned. The two
groups are coming from the same country, but being subjected to different conditions.
Why won’t Britain allow people in both categories to come in, and be subjected
to the same conditions of testing and quarantine? This is why this decision to
ban travelers from Nigeria, who are neither citizens nor residents, is grossly
discriminatory and punitive.
“Gentlemen, let me use this
opportunity to highlight the fact that travel ban, the type that has been
slammed on some African countries, is a knee-jerk reaction that can only be
detrimental to our quest to most conclusively tackle this pandemic. Instead of
these reflex responses that are driven by fear, rather than science, why can’t
the world take a serious look at the issue of access to vaccines, and ensure
that it is based on the principles grounded in the right of every human to
enjoy the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the
basis of race, religion, political belief, economic or any other social
condition.
“Many developed countries have
used the advantage of their enormous resources or relationship to sign
agreements with manufacturers to supply their countries with vaccines ahead of
making them available for use by other countries. Even before the clinical
trials were completed, millions of doses of the most promising vaccines have
been bought by Britain, US, Japan and the EU. Some of these countries bought
doses five times the size of their population, while others, mostly in Africa,
have little or no access to vaccines. This is the real issue to address,
instead of choosing the easy path of travel bans, which the UN Secretary
General called Travel Apartheid. Let the world know that no one is safe until
everyone is safe.
“We sincerely hope the British
Government will immediately review the decision to put Nigeria on its red list
and rescind it immediately. Nigeria has handled the Covid-19 pandemic with
utmost responsibility and based on science, and has rightly earned global
accolades for its efforts. Nigeria does not belong on any country’s red list.”
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