9 Nigerians miss special US-Lagos flight over COVID-19 status papers

- Nine Nigerians, including a family of five, were not evacuated from the US alongside other nationals

- The family was not allowed to check in for failing to present their coronavirus test result

- The other four presented theirs but had to be dropped because they were on a family ticket with one of the defaulters

- This is the second evacuation from the US as the first was done on May 10

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As the federal government continues making effort to evacuate Nigerians stranded in other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic, nine nationals have missed the special US-Lagos flight.

The flight was arranged to evacuate Nigerians from the United States.

Benaoyagha Okoyen, the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, who oversaw the evacuation said among the defaulters was a family of five who failed to present COVID-19 test results and were not allowed to check in, NAN reports.

According to Okoyen, the remaining four presented their results, but they had to be dropped because they were on a family ticket with one of the defaulters.

The negative COVID-19 test result is one of the requirements for evacuation under the Revised Quarantine Protocol of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

Okoyen disclosed that one of the defaulters did not take the test at all in spite of being informed well ahead of time.

He noted that the nine who were dropped would be placed on the waiting list for subsequent ones.

The consul general urged intending evacuees to abide by the rules to avoid being missing the evacuation flights.

“We had to turn them back because this is a regulation, and I am using this opportunity to advise those in subsequent flights to obey the rules,” he said.

Meanwhile, 172 Nigerians stranded in Kenya and Uganda have been flown home amid coronavirus outbreak.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the head of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), on her Twitter page on Wednesday, July 1, said that the Nigerians were flown back by Air Peace as she welcomed them home.

In the same vein, Nigerian evacuees from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, arrived in Abuja as the federal government intensifies efforts to bring back stranded nationals amid COVID-19.

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The disclosure was made by the NIDCOM boss. As the deadly coronavirus cases increase globally, Nigerians abroad have been indicating interest to return to the country and the federal government has been responding to their request.

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Source: Legit.ng