COVID-19: Minister Rejects Self-Isolation Request by Nigerians Returning Abroad

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Friday, April 24th, 2020

…Insists they must be quarantined in Govt Isolation Center

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Federal Government says it will not accept the request to self-isolate, by Nigerians abroad willing to come back home.

“We will not accept the request to self-isolate because it will be difficult to monitor them. That is our position,” Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, said at the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 daily briefing on Friday in Abuja.

Onyeama explained that some Nigerians willing to come back home were asking for self-isolation in their homes, but that such request could not be guaranteed as monitoring them would be difficult.

He said that the limited bed spaces and isolation centres in the country might have informed their demand to self-isolate in their homes on their return back to the country.

“The truth is that we do not have enough isolation centres and bed spaces.

”We are looking for hotels in Lagos and I have spoken to the Governor of Lagos. If we can get some, that’ll be fine.”

Onyeama said that the Chinese Ambassador had promised that his country was ready to assist Nigeria’s efforts to fight the virus in any way deemed necessary.

He said that since it would be impossible to get all the test done for Nigerians abroad who would be coming back to the country, government has decided that they would be tested in Nigeria.

The minister said that the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had agreed that it was better to take all necessary precautions in the fight against COVID-19 by testing them in Nigeria. (NAN)