December 07, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has described as arbitrary stigmatisation the recent travel ban imposed on Nigeria and some African countries by the United Kingdom and Canada.
The Forum said the decision by Canada and UK to hastily include Nigeria among the omicron-present countries is unfair and discriminatory.
According to a statement by the Ekiti State governor and chairman of the NGF, Kayode Fayemi, the three cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus were detected in Nigeria less than a week ago, precisely on December 1, 2021.
Fayemi further stated that Omicron still remains relatively unknown globally as it is not yet clear whether it is more transmissible from person to person compared to other variants of COVID-19 including Delta.
He said, “It is very discouraging to note that there are several countries that have reported cases of Omicron similar to or higher than Nigeria’s, that have not been banned from entry to the UK and/Canada.
“Confirmed Omicron cases as at December 3rd, across some countries are: Nigeria (3 ); Australia (7); Brazil (3); Germany (9) Israel(4); Italy (9) & Netherlands(16). There is also no evidence that harsh, blanket travel bans will protect the countries that impose them.
“It is ironical that this ban comes at a time when the DG of the WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, has advised that “rational proportional risk reduction measures” be taken by countries such as screening passengers prior to departure and/or upon arrival in a country, or enforcing a quarantine period.”
The NGF urged the WHO to intervene by setting uniform standards that are acceptable to all for banning countries across the globe.
“This is because vaccine hesitancy is quite high and for many reasons including disruptive announcements as such, could exacerbate distrust of the vaccine and heighten hesitancy.
“World leaders and stakeholders in the West need to remember that with the COVID-19 pandemic, until everyone is free, no one is free. Variants will continue to appear and spread across the globe as long as global herd immunity has not been achieved.
“We call on countries to be guided by science and fairness in setting the criteria for updating their red list. We encourage both public and private stakeholders to continue to support vaccination efforts and address hesitancy. We encourage Nigerians not to be discouraged and to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” the statement further said.
