It’s apartheid for UK to ban travellers, Nigeria high commissioner reacts

Nigeria has condemned the travel restrictions imposed on the country, describing it as selective and apartheid.

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK), Sarafa Ishola, stated this on Monday in an interview.

A number of countries in Europe have banned travel from countries in Africa after the discovery of the Omicron COVID-19 variant by South Africa.

The UK on Saturday announced that it would add Nigeria to the countries on its red list as a result of Omicron COVID cases linked to the country.

The ban, which is effective from Monday (today), means only the UK residents or citizens of the UK can enter the UK from Nigeria.

Speaking on a BBC radio programme on Monday, Isola said the ban on Nigeria was “travel apartheid”.

The high commissioner said what was expected of the UK was a global approach and not a selective measure, adding that most Omicron cases in Nigeria came from elsewhere through travellers.

“The reaction in Nigeria is that of travel apartheid. Because Nigeria actually aligned with the position of the United Nations secretary-general that the travel ban is apartheid in the sense that we are dealing with an endemic situation; we are dealing with a pandemic situation and what is expected is a global approach, not selective,” he said.

Ishola said Omicron had been classified as a mild variant; “no hospitalisation, no deaths, so the issue is quite different from the Delta variant”.

He said the best way to tackle the issue should be collaborative, adding, “That’s why we in Nigeria believe that we are dealing with a pandemic. Whenever we have a challenge there must be collaboration.”