About 190 Nigerians currently stranded in the United Kingdom, have demanded to know the exact date they would be evacuated back home.
In a letter addressed to the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyema they expressed “dissatisfaction and frustration with the delay in our evacuation,” offering to stay at the orientation camps of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival in Nigeria.
According to them, they have paid £350 each to private laboratories for the COVID-19 test and for their flight.
The letter signed by their spokesperson, Mrs. Olajoke Adesipe, read in part: “We want to inform you of the following that has been unanimously agreed to on our platform (approximately 190 Nigerians, many of who are students from Nigeria in the UK).
“The Nigerian government does not have the constitutional power of locking its citizens out of the country. This is contrary to Section14 (2) (b) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which stipulates expressly that, the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. Every Government official swore on oath to uphold the constitution.
“Since most of us on the platform have tested Negative for COVID19. On arrival in Nigeria, temperature checks should be conducted to further ascertain our COVID status and the government should allow us to self-quarantine in our various homes. We are more than willing to sign an agreement to this request.
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“If it is a must that we are isolated by the government, we suggest the use of NYSC orientation camps as all of those centres are vacant now and each state has its own.
“Also, we want to urge you to communicate to us in clear terms, what is the precise date of commencement of evacuation? Which airlines have been contracted to carry out this operation? How much we are to pay for the flight ticket?
“Lastly, most of us do not currently possess the mean by which we are expected to pay for our accommodation at the isolation centres.
“We have already paid £350 to private laboratories for the COVID 19 test, the test which was a prerequisite to be airlifted and we are also paying for our flight tickets.
“We hope that the government is able to agree with us on these term stated above as they are the most practicable at the moment. We wish the government treat this as an emergency.”
