Retaliation: Nigeria to impose Travel Bans on UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia- Minister Sirika

The federal government of Nigeriahas concluded arrangement to add the United Kingdom, Argentina, Canada, and Saudi Arabia to red list countries, following their decision to impose travel restrictions on Nigeria.

The Canada, the UK and  Saudi Arabia recently placed travel restrictions on Nigerians over Omicron variants of COVID-19 in the country.

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika announced this in a leaked voice note he shared in a WhatsApp group on the situation of the relations between Nigeria and Emirates Airlines, on Saturday.

He stated that the decision to ban these countries in retaliation would be made by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 latest by Tuesday.

“Also, there is a case of Saudi Arabia, which put Nigeria on the banned list – no visa, no travel, et Cetra. So also Canada. So, today, there was a meeting, I participated in a zoom meeting, COVID-19 task force, just for your information also.

“We have given our input in aviation, it is not acceptable by us and we recommend that those countries – Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina be also put on Red List, as they did similarly to us.

“If they don’t allow our citizens to go into their countries who are their airlines coming to pick from our country?

“So, I am very sure that in the next few days, between now and Monday, or perhaps Tuesday, at maximum, all those countries will be put on the red list from the PSC (Presidential Steering Committee) from the task force of COVID-19. Once they are put on the red list, which means they are banned, of course, their airlines will be banned.

“I’m so sorry, we are going through a difficult moment, but we have to do it in the interest of our country,” Sirika explained.