The United Kingdom (UK) has confirmed that Nigeria will be effectively removed from its travel red list, allowing free entry of flights and travellers with minimal conditions into the UK. However, the federal government is yet to receive an official memo that puts the agreement into practice, as of this morning.
The travel ban, which lasted 10 days, limited the travel of thousands of Nigerians, some of whom had already paid air tickets for trips to the English country.
In the same way, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has adjusted its stance on welcoming Nigerian flag carrier, Air Peace airline, into the country, with approval of seven weekly slots into the Dubai International Airport, Dubai. This comes as a mighty relief to the population of Nigerians who are optimistic about travelling to the Holy City for Hajj.
However, the offer from the UAE is in contrast to the preferred proposition by the airline, which is currently considering operations at Sharjah Airport. Reliable sources have now confirmed that an amicable resolution has been reached between the two parties.
The emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 had prompted the UK government to reintroduce the red list as a means to avoid another Covid saga, following the harsh impacts of Covid-19 that the country had experienced in 2020. Asides from Nigeria, other countries affected by the ban include Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, mentioned yesterday that the Covid variant had already spread so wide in the state that such rules, despite its limitation, would have little effect.
“Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad,” Javid told UK Parliament.
“While we will maintain our temporary testing measures for international travel, we will be removing all 11 countries from the travel red list effective from 4 a.m. Wednesday morning.”
As it stands, travellers from the red list countries must pre-book a 10day self-isolation hotel stay. The bills to live in such government-approved quarantine hotels run into thousands of pounds. Yet, complaints abound of a clear dissatisfaction with the hotel’s organization and food.
Javid however mentioned that he is working on the possibility of reducing the time it takes to quarantine.