COVID-19: Lagos, Abuja isolation facilities filled by returnees from abroad —Onyeama

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said Monday over 600 Nigerians evacuated from various countries abroad were already at the isolation centres in Lagos and Abuja.

Onyeama, who disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja, said the isolation centres in the two major Nigerian cities are already saturated with the returnees.

The minister said: “The number of patients we are able to care for is limited. This means we are going to be staggering flights before bringing others back to the country.

“Many Nigerians willing to come home are still in China, India, Sudan, Lebanon and Egypt among others. This calls to question our capacity to absorb all of them and also ensure we deliver optimally.”

He said the flight that brought the first and second batch returnees to the country from the United Arab Emirates was already on its way to Nigeria and the plane that brought the United States returnees was a private sector driven initiative.

READ ALSO: Lagos discharges 33 COVID-19 patients

Onyeama added that the Task Force would henceforth use Nigeria carrier to airlift the returnees to reduce unnecessary burden over the fate of Nigerians abroad.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now