Omicron: Angry Govs, Senators, Reps Attack UK Govt Over Red List

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, December 8th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Anger reigned in the two chambers of Nigeria’s National Assembly as senators, and members of the House of Representatives, separately, condemned the United Kingdom’s inclusion of Nigeria in her COVID-19 red list without justification.

This is even as governors of the 36 states of the federation expressed angst over the UK government’s decision, describing it as arbitrary stigmatization of Nigerians.

Urging the UK government to be sensitive to the diplomatic relationship between both countries, the Senate called on the British parliament and authorities to consider removing Nigeria from the red list, and urged the Federal Government to engage its British counterpart to reverse the decision.

Toeing the path of the senators, members of the House of Representatives said the United Kingdom government’s travel ban on Nigerians was hasty and embarrassing to Nigeria, noting, however, that the ban was a wake-up call for Nigeria as a country to reinvent herself as the giant of Africa.

The lawmakers spoke as the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, reported three new cases of Omicron variant in Nigeria yesterday, just Dr. Anthony Fauci, DirectorÿNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Maryland, U.S.A, assured Nigerians of the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines booster shots.

Also, the 36 state governors of the federation described the UK government’s action as unfair, discriminatory and arbitrary stigmatization, noting that there were several countries with reported higher cases of Omicron than Nigeria but had not been banned from entering the UK and/Canada. The governors called on the World Health organization, WHO, to intervene by setting uniform standards.

However, the United Kingdom has assured that student, and work visa applications would be processed, despite travel restrictions.