The hope of 200 Nigerians billed for evacuation from Canada has been dashed by the Federal Government of Nigeria. This is coming after all modalities had been put in place by the Nigeria High Commission in Canada with a local airline for the airlifting of the passengers.
Revealing this in a statement on Monday, the Nigeria High Commission in Canada stated that this decision has become necessary due to the lack of accommodation for the mandatory 14 days isolation of returnees.
Speaking on this development, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama said the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on Covid-19 had reached its saturation point following the evacuation of 678 Nigerians from United Arab Emirate (UAE), United Kingdom (UK) and United States ((U.S) in the last one week. Speaking further, Onyeama explained that the evacuation exercise will have to be put on hold pending when the current returnees in our isolation centres are discharged.
The Minister was also quick to point out that the provision made for accommodation for the exercise could only capture 600 patients, and this is coupled with medical advice against overstretching the personnel at the isolation facilities.
A new date for the evacuation exercise is to be announced later.