The National Incident Manager (NIM) of the Presidential
Steering Committee (PSC), Mukhtar Muhammad, disclosed this at its briefing on
Monday, in Abuja.
Muhammad said that the names of over 2,000 citizens’ and foreigners
had been pasted at all the major federal medical facilities where medical
experts were assigned to give care to Nigerians and foreigners that had
travelled into the country during the COVID-19 third wave.
He said government had insisted that passengers, who arrived
into the country, especially from high risk countries, must be quarantined in a
government provided facility, and that the passports of those who failed to
comply with the protocol had been suspended for one year.
“We have included the provision of quarantine for
passengers, who arrived from high risk countries and people who evaded these
protocols have been penalised by publishing their names, as well as suspending
their passports for one year.
“Let me assure you that so far we have published the list of
over 2,000 people who evaded quarantine in our health facilities. And we have
gone ahead to ensure that their passports are suspended, so, for every action there
are consequences,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), reports that the PSC on May
1, 2021, issued a Travel Advisory for Passengers arriving in Nigeria from
Brazil, India and Turkey.
The precautionary measures were a necessary step to mitigate
the risk of importation of variants of concern and breaking the chain of
transmission to the population, according to the chairman, Boss Mustapha.
Under the measures, passengers arriving from/or that have
visited any of these three countries within fourteen (14) days prior to the
visit to Nigeria, were required to follow mandatory arrival quarantine and
testing protocols in designated facilities.
But many passengers failed to observe the compulsory
isolation or to present themselves for the PCR repeat test on day seven,
various findings have shown.
The PSC had previously also published names and passport
numbers of defaulters.