The United Kingdom would not reverse its travel ban on Nigeria because of a threat of retaliation by the Federal Government, the British High Commission had said Sunday.
This was disclosed by the spokesperson for the British High Commission, Dean Hurlock.
He was responding to an inquiry by The PUNCH on Sunday over a statement by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, that the UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia would be put on Nigeria’s travel ban on Tuesday.
Hurlock said Britain had made it clear that travel abroad would be different this year, adding that the UK was sticking to its “standard background lines.”
In his response, Hurlock stated, “The UK Government proposes sticking to our standard background lines on whether ‘x’ country will put us on the red list and avoid getting into hypothetical situations.
“The UK government has been clear that travel abroad will be different this year and countries may impose border measures at short notice in line with their own coronavirus policies.”
He added that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel advice was kept under constant review and asked travellers to continue to check it for entry requirements of the destination they plan to visit.
“Travellers can also sign up for email alerts on GOV.UK to get the latest updates as soon as they happen. We are in regular conversations with other countries about their travel policies,” Hurlock explained.
He earlier said that “The position stated in our press release of last weekend still stands at present.”
In the press release, the UK had said Nigeria would be added to the travel red list as from 4am on December 6 following 21 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 reported in England, which had travel history from Nigeria.
“These are temporary measures that have been introduced to prevent further omicron cases from entering the UK and will be examined at the three-week review point on 20 December.”
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, had said Omicron cases in the UK had clear links to overseas travel from Nigeria and South Africa.
Also On Thursday, Laing, in an interview with Channels Television, insisted that the travel ban was evidence-based.
According to her, 19 out of 21 passengers with Omicron variant with Nigeria’s travel history flew directly to Britain from Nigeria.
He said the emergence of a new variant poses fresh challenges, adding that the sanctions and restrictions on travelling were unjustified.
