The Federal Government, on Monday, said the ongoing evacuation of Nigerians from abroad as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic would end on Saturday, August 22, 2020.
The Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja.
Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said with the stoppage of evacuation, the nation’s airports would be given sufficient time to prepare for reopening.
He also disclosed that some countries, such as the United States of America, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, had expressed their readiness to repatriate convicted Nigerians, who had been pardoned and paroled.
Mustapha stated:
“A number of countries have signified intention to repatriate Nigerians convicted and pardoned and paroled in those countries. They include the UAE, Egypt and the United States of America.“Coming in the midst of our national response to COVID-19, all relevant agencies of government are taking multi-sector steps to ensure that the process remains within acceptable international protocols and in line with bilateral agreements.“For the purpose of clarity, this should be distinguished from the normal evacuation flights and we wish to state that all evacuation flights will end on August 22, 2020, after which the airports will be given sufficient time to prepare for reopening.”
Mustapha said the PTF had continued to observe “noticeable decline in fatalities, high discharge rates and consistent under 500 daily cases” for the past four weeks in spite of the huge increase in testing capacity and increase in the number of daily tests conducted.
He, however, said the nation had not attained the desired level that would enable the PTF to make conclusive statements on the rate of infection in the country.
“We must, therefore, continue to do that which is giving us record improvements and desist from actions capable of undermining our successes,” he said.
The PTF’s National Coordinator, Sani Aliyu, however, explained that the August 29 date proposed for the resumption of international flights was not sacrosanct.
Aliyu also said the low level of positive cases did not indicate that the virus had gone.
“We need more people to get tested,” he said.
