The United States of America, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signalled their intentions to repatriate Nigerians that have been convicted, pardoned and paroled.
The chairman of the Presidential Task Force on the COVID-19 pandemic and Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, announced this during Monday’s briefing of the task force in Abuja.
He stressed that the repatriation is different from the normal evacuation of stranded Nigerians, which he said, will end on August 22 to enable the airports to prepare for the resumption of international flights.
Secretary to the government of Federation,Boss Mustapha said: “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-sectoral 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 normal evacuation flights and we wish to state that all evacuation flights will end on 22nd August 2020 after which Airports will be given sufficient time to prepare for reopening.”
The PTF boss expressed delight that the Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) examinations, which started on Monday, witnessed substantial compliance with COVID-19 protocols, noting that the government considers the reopening of schools a priority.
He noted: “Today, the Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) examinations commenced all over the country, like in other West African States, and the PTF is happy to note the high level of compliance with the protocols for the re-opening of exit classes.
“It is in this light that we appreciate the call by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) for the reopening of tertiary institutions. As a listening government, we wish to state that education is topmost on the priority list and the reopening of our institutions remain critical, within set safety parameters.”
The SGF affirmed that Nigeria is gradually inching towards the 50,000 mark of confirmed cases of COVID-19 with a total number of confirmed cases standing at 49,098 as at Sunday, 16th August 2020.
He added: “The PTF has continued to observe the noticeable decline in fatalities, high discharge rates and consistent under 500 daily cases for the past four weeks in spite of the huge jump in our testing capacity and the increase in the number daily tests conducted.
“The PTF wishes to strongly remind all Nigerians that we have not attained the desired level that will enable us 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.
“The world had its highest daily increase of 294,237 confirmed cases yesterday bringing the total to 22.4million with a cumulative death of 771,000. These statistics are daily reminders that humanity is still endangered by this virus. We are also reminded that the countries that appeared to have overcome the pandemic are actually being forced to re-introduce even stricter containment measures.
“As a country, Nigeria should not and would not lower its guard and as a people, we should also improve our compliance with the various protocols at all levels.”
Mustapha commended the state and local governments for their efforts at advancing the Risk Communication and Community Engagement Strategy, saying that the PTF is happy to note that their ownership of the strategy has manifested in many states establishing sample collection centres in all their Local Government Areas, while those that are yet to do so are also working on it.
He further said: “Similarly, the establishment of treatment centres, which is contributing to the high number of discharge cases and reduced fatality, in most Local Government Areas is worth commending.
“We are fully in the community spread phase and one of the major measures we can take is to keep testing to detect, detect and treat.”
On assistance from partners, he said they have continued to provide support for the National Response, revealing that ever the weekend, the UAE presented Nigeria with 7.5 tonnes of medical supplies and also facilitated the return of stranded Nigerians in their country.
While expressing Nigerian government’s appreciation to the government and people of the UAE, he said the PTF similarly received additional PPEs from the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and Messrs Changzhou Sang Ma Education Foundation, a Chinese company.
He continued: “Particularly, we remember with deep sense of gratitude, the immeasurable role the late Mallam Samaila Isa Funtua played in facilitating the donation by the Chinese company. May his soul rest in peace.
“Before I close this remark, it is important that I plead with Nigerians to remain focused on our individual and collective fight to win this fight against COVID-19 and not engage in distractive information dissemination. One of such is the viral trend on the social media about collection of sums of money for COVID-19 negative results.
“For the benefit of all Nigerians and has been explained previously, by the DG, NCDC, samples are only collected at designated centres and not at the airports. It is, therefore, inconceivable that test results would be given at the airports where only passports of returnees are collected.
“It is disturbing to realise that while a good number of Nigerians are sharing their experiences with the coronavirus and encouraging others to take responsibility, some very few Nigerians are bent on spreading misleading information.
“Let us remember, therefore, that this war can only be won when we individually and collectively take responsibility so that we can return to a life devoid of this pandemic. Comply with the measures. Wear your mask properly, wash your hands regularly, stay away from crowds, maintain social distance and join the campaign.”
Also speaking, PTF National Coordinator, Dr Sani Aliyu, noted that state governments have received funds and grants to control the spread of coronavirus, warning that such funds must be utilized for the purpose intended.
He said: “There are a lot of state governments that have received funds or grants. These funds are meant to be used for the purpose they have been released for at the state levels and we are appealing to the state governments to make sure that these funds are used to expand testing, to improve the availability of sample collection centres and also to be used for risk communication and community engagements right to the grassroots level.
“We will be monitoring usage of these funds to make sure that future funds reflect proper usage at the state level.”