PUSH NEWS 24 INTERNATIONAL : December 8th, 2021
OMICRON BAN : ANOTHER SINISTER MOVE BY THE UK TO RECOLONISE AFRICA – DIASPORANS REACT
Nigeria is the latest African country to join the UK’s travel red list – along with South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia.
In a swift reaction Nigerians-in-Diaspora have also learned their voices to the call for the UK reconsider her position. The Convener of Nigeria Diaspora Project Committee (NDPC), Prince Olalekan Ojo Martins has criticized a travel ban imposed on the West African nation by the British government amid fears about the new omicron variant as “punitive, indefensible and discriminatory aimed at sinisterly tending towards recolonisation of Africans”
U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Saturday added Nigeria to the U.K.’s travel “red list,” which means that arrivals from there will be banned except for U.K. and Irish residents. He said there was a “significant number” of omicron cases linked to travel with Nigeria, with 27 cases recorded in England.
The NDPC Visionary stressed that the move by the UK is very “unfortunate” and “unfair” towards developing countries particularly when nations are expected to pull resources and strength to fight the new wave.
Push News 24 International gathered that the only people allowed to enter the UK from these countries are UK or Irish nationals, or UK residents.
Arrivals from red-list countries are required to enter hotel quarantine – at their own expense – and isolate for 10 days. These countries have been targeted because the Omicron variant was first identified in southern Africa.
But the fact all of the nations currently on the red list are African has been described as “wicked and unfair”.
But Nigerian authorities say they have not reported any new omicron cases in the country since announcing on Dec. 1 that they had detected three cases in travelers who arrived from South Africa.
According to Aare Ismail Adetunji who is based in Washington DC stressed that the British travel ban has no sciencetific backing and is very “unjust, unfair, punitive, indefensible and discriminatory,” .
Dr. Asekun, a lawyer based in Texas said
“We continue to witness the humanising and unyielding actions/inactions of the actors who partook in the making of modern Nigeria but still holding the strings of progress”,
Olayiwola Isiaka in his own submission to Push News 24 International that ” we will continue to emphasize the scandals and clandestine colonial operations in our mainstream narratives.”
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is not considering imposing travel bans from any country now, Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire told The Press. Instead, it is focusing on ramping up surveillance and testing as it aims to “balance saving lives and saving livelihoods.”
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