Government ruled out preventing foreigners from visiting Nigeria

Despite travel prohibitions imposed by Canada, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, the Federal Government ruled out preventing foreign visitors from visiting Nigeria

Despite travel prohibitions imposed by Canada, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, the Federal Government ruled out preventing foreign visitors from visiting Nigeria on Sunday.

This is in line with the government’s claim that the majority of inbound travellers who tested positive for COVID-19 came from the United Kingdom.

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Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, mentioned this on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ show on Sunday, which was broadcast live.

The knee-jerk reaction of some countries to the Omicron strain, according to Ehanire, is terrible. He pointed out that even the World Health Organization has stated that rather than closing borders, governments should rely on partnership.

“At this time, we have no plans to impose any restrictions on anyone arriving from another nation,” he said.

The omicron variation was recently classified as a variant of concern by the WHO.

Last Monday, the NCDC announced that three instances of the variation had been reported in the country. The Canadian authorities had previously revealed that it had discovered two people with the variation who had travelled to Nigeria.

On Saturday night, the United Kingdom said that it has discovered 21 instances of the omicron variant connected to Nigeria. It said that all aircraft departing from Nigeria would be restricted from Monday (today).

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Owing to the suspension on flights from Nigeria due to the Omicron variation, it also halted all pending visa applications in Nigeria.

“To support the UK Government’s goal of protecting public health from COVID-19 and associated variants of concern, UK Visas and Immigration will pause making decisions on visitor visa applications in all red list countries, including Nigeria, until travel restrictions are lifted,” the commission said in a statement on Sunday.

“Your application will be postponed if you apply for a visit visa in a red list country and fulfil the UK Immigration Rules.” While the red list travel restrictions are in effect, you will not get a decision on your visit visa application. Once you’ve supplied your biometrics at a Visa Application Centre, you won’t be able to get a refund on your visa price. If you already have a valid visit visa and plan to visit England as a visitor from a red-listed country, you will be denied entry.”

There are just a few exceptions to travel and entry rules for important employees, medical and compassionate circumstances, according to the UK.

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