Nigeria’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom Sarafa Ishola says the travel restrictions imposed on Nigeria by the UK is akin to apartheid.
The UK had on Saturday added Nigeria to the list of countries on its red list as a result of Omicron variant of Covid-19 cases linked to the country. The variants were first discovered in South Africa.
The ban, which is effective from Monday, December 6 means only UK residents or citizens of the UK can enter the UK from Nigeria.
However, speaking on a BBC radio programme on Monday, Ishola said the ban on Nigeria is “travel apartheid”.
The high commissioner said what is expected of the UK is 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 “is classified as a mild variant, no hospitalisation, no deaths, so the issue is quite different from the Delta variant”.
He added that the best way to tackle the issue should be collaborative.
Nigeria’s minister of information and culture Lai Mohammed had described the travel ban as “discriminatory.”
