Udora Orizu writes that in retaliation for for including Nigeria on their COVID-19 Red List, the Federal Government is planning to add the United Kingdom and a couple of others to Nigeria’s COVID-19 Red List countries

Over the weekend, it was revealed that the Nigerian government in retaliation is planning to add the United Kingdom, Argentina, Canada, and Saudi Arabia to red list countries.

News that the UK has placed Nigeria and some other African countries on travel ban over the Omicron variant was trailed by global outrage with some national and international stakeholders describing it as racist and discriminatory. The UK had imposed travel restrictions on Nigeria, claiming that 21 cases of Omicron recorded in England were linked to travellers from Nigeria.

Towards the end of November, scientists had stumbled across what’s known worldwide currently as the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus. Since its emergence in December 2019, COVID-19 pandemic has done serious damage to humanity. It however, seems the pandemic is here to stay with the discovery of its variants, from Delta to the recent Omicron. The latest discovery of the Omicron variant has thrown more challenges to the society, as threat of travel restrictions and associated inconveniences continue.

Barely days after the news of the variant broke, Nigeria joined the growing number of countries that have recorded cases of the Omicron variant also known as B.1.1.529 lineage, confirming the discovery of three additional Omicron variant cases. The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ifedayo Adetifa who disclosed this noted that the new cases were detected in persons with recent travel history to South Africa in November. Adetifa also said that through the NCDC, the Nigerian government has been notified by the government of the United Kingdom (UK) of seven cases of Omicron variant detected in travellers from Nigeria.

With the discovery of the variant, travel bans have been placed on countries especially African countries including Nigeria, by top Western countries. The latest and by far of more concern to Nigeria is the one imposed on travellers from Nigeria by the United Kingdom. The UK had said travellers from Nigeria would not be permitted to enter the United Kingdom beginning from last Monday, December 6. This is coming a few days after Canada extended its travel ban to travellers who recently visited Nigeria.

Nigeria became the 11th country to go on the UK’s Red List for international travel. All nations currently on that list are African. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has however said that blanket travel bans would not stop the spread of the variant, and could potentially discourage countries from reporting and sharing important data on Coronavirus.

Outrage, Criticisms Trail Ban as Lawmakers Wade in

The news of addition of Nigeria to the Red List by UK in particular, was deeply frowned at by many Nigerians who described it as travel apartheid. The Federal Government had condemned the decision of the UK, with the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, describing it as discriminatory, unfair, punitive, indefensible, and unjust. Wading into the growing outrage, the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. Justin Welby last Tuesday condemned the United Kingdom’s (UK) inclusion of Nigeria in its COVID-19 Red List without justification, saying it was a “travel apartheid” and calls for it to be scrapped.

In series of tweets on his Twitter handle @JustinWelby, the Archbishop of Canterbury urged the UK government to abolish what he described as the “morally wrong and self-defeating” Red Llist.

At plenary last Tuesday, lawmakers in both chambers of the National Assembly also expressed their displeasure with UK’s decision. The Senate on its part insisted that the travel ban was discriminatory and an attack on diplomatic relations between the two nations and accordingly, called on the British authorities to consider removing Nigeria from the Red List.

Furthermore, the Senate advised the UK government to be sensitive to the diplomatic relationship between both countries when taking decision that affect Nigerian citizens.

It urged the Federal Government to engage British authorities to reverse Nigeria’s inclusion on the Red List. The Upper Chamber also charged the administration to remain firm in the enforcement of necessary protocols in the containment of every COVID-19 variant in Nigeria.

It further advised developing countries which it listed to include Britain, Canada, United States of America, the European Union, among others, to take urgent and bold steps to ensure vaccine equity in the interest of the entire human race.

The resolutions were reached by the Senate sequel to the consideration of a motion on the, “Need for Government of the United Kingdom to remove Nigeria from COVID-19 Red List,” sponsored by the former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu (Enugu West).

Ekweremadu emphasized that, “targeting African countries, especially in the COVID-19 travel ban, amounts to profiling and discrimination as well as an attack on our cordial diplomatic relationship with the UK.”

In his contribution, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said the decision to include Nigeria on the UK COVID-19 Red List posed a strain on the diplomatic relationship between both countries, just as he bemoaned the poor treatment of Nigeria by the UK government.

He, therefore, called on the British Parliament to intervene with a view to having Nigeria removed from the country’s COVID-19 Red List.

Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives were sharply divided, during their debate on the issue. While some members were of the views that the decision of the UK government against Nigerians was harsh and racist, others believed it was a wake-up call on the government and those in authority to fix the country, especially the health and education sector.

Moving his motion, the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu said though the ban was for Nigerians bound for the UK, it does not exempt over 8,000 Nigerian travelers that had bought air tickets to visit Nigeria during the yuletide period, saying the restriction would affect their re-entry into the UK after holidays.

Elumelu noted that rather than seek to work with its Commonwealth ally on ways to combat and curtail the spread of this new variant, the UK government decided to outright ban Nigerian travelers from entering their country.

According to him, this was in sharp contrast to that of the United States government whose response was for travelers to produce evidence of negative test result at the point of departure as well as a day two test result after arrival in their country, a response that have received wide commendation across board,

The lawmaker further expressed worry that the UK government chose to announce the ban without discussing the data in its possession with the Nigerian government, but instead gave a one hour notice to the Nigeria authorities before its inclusion on the Red List, contrary to known international convention.

Elumelu said the Omicron variant has now been found in over 40 countries around the world including many from the European Union, but only Nigeria and a few African countries were banned by the UK government.

The Minority Leader stressed that if the Nigerian government does not urgently engage the authorities of UK, the decision could have a significant impact on businesses and travelers intending to carry out lawful transactions in the UK as opportunities and investments already made would be lost, hence the need for a quick interface.

Contributing, Hon. Aminu Suleiman said there was a need for the country to do internal assessment.

He said Nigeria has already admitted to having an Omicron variant, saying there was no need castigating another sovereign country for taking such a decision as it has the right to do so.

On his part, Hon. Nicholas Ossai said the issue canvassed by the Minority Leader was germane, adding that there was need to meet with the British government and resolve the issue diplomatically.

Also, Hon. Henry Nwawuba stated that the ban on Nigerian travelers was akin to putting the cart before the horse. He called for a diplomatic solution to the issue.

Another lawmaker, Hon. Dachung Bagos called for fairness in the way countries treat Nigerians and for Nigeria to react in like manner to the way countries treat her as relationships are suppose to complimentary.

In his submission, Hon. Onofiok Luke wondered why different countries have taken to treating Nigeria badly recently? He therefore called for the fixing of Nigeria’s infrastructure so that the mass exodus of Nigerians abroad can cease. He also called for the immediate inward look so that Nigeria can indeed be developed.

On his part, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu called for the development of proper protocol to deal with pandemics. He bemoaned the economic loss that will be suffered by those who have already made travel plans only to get banned without refund. Okechukwu advised on the need for proper research so Nigeria can produce indigenous vaccines for these infectious diseases and their variants.

FG Retaliates

In a leaked voice note obtained by THISDAY over the weekend, the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, stated that the decision to ban these countries in retaliation would be made by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 latest by Tuesday.

“Also, there is a case of Saudi Arabia, which put Nigeria on the banned list – no visa, no travel, et cetra. So also Canada. So, today, there was a meeting, I participated in a Zoom meeting, COVID-19 task force, just for your information also. We have given our input in aviation, it is not acceptable by us and we recommend that those countries – Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina be also put on Red List, as they did similarly to us.

“If they don’t allow our citizens to go into their countries who are their airlines coming to pick from our country? So, I am very sure that in the next few days, between now and Monday, or perhaps Tuesday, at maximum, all those countries will be put on the Red List from the PSC (Presidential Steering Committee) from the task force of COVID-19. Once they are put on the Red List, which means they are banned, of course, their airlines will be banned. I’m so sorry, we are going through a difficult moment, but we have to do it in the interest of our country,” Sirika explained.

Will UK Remove Nigeria from the Red List?

As criticisms trail the British authorities decision, the UK High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has defended the travel ban on Nigeria, insisting that the move was based on science and not discriminatory.

The envoy in an interview on a national television, last Thursday said the British Government was aware of the reactions and condemnation from across the world following the move but maintained that the development will not push them to reverse the ban.

According to her, “I think I can say comfortably, it is not [discriminatory]. When the UK was the epicentre of the Alpha variant, we took some very tough measures ourselves to essentially cut ourselves off and we banned all but essential travels from the UK. So, that was a very tough decision for us. The UK has been Red-listed in earlier stages of these variants; I think when the Delta variant took off, we were Red-listed by Austria and by France and Turkey. We have not just Red-listed, in the first, African countries. So, Pakistan was Red-listed, Turkey was Red-listed by the UK when we had our previous Red-list. So, it is based on an individual deep-diving assessment of each country. The reactions have been loud and clear but I don’t want to suggest to anybody that that would change the basis of the decision because that health basis has to be the basis on which the decision has to be made.”

With the reaction of the UK High Commissioner, it’s clear that the country will not remove Nigeria from the Red list anytime soon.

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Members of the House of Representatives were sharply divided, during their debate on the issue. While some members were of the views that the decision of the UK government against Nigerians was harsh and racist, others believed it was a wake-up call on the government and those in authority to fix the country, especially the health and education sector.