The National Incident Manager (NIM) of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC), Mukhtar Muhammad, made the announcement at a briefing on Monday, September 27.
Muhammed said the government have advised that every passenger who arrives the Nigeria, especially from high risk countries must quarantine in a government facility.
He said the passports of these defaulters have been suspended for one year.
Muhammed said: “We have included the provision of quarantine for passengers who arrived from these high risk countries and people who evade these protocols have been penalised by publishing their names as well as by suspending their passports for one year.”
“Let me assure you that so far we have published the list of over 2,000 people who evaded quarantine in our health facilities,” he said.
Quarantine Advisory for Passengers Arriving Nigeria
The PSC had on May 1, 2021, issued a Travel Advisory for passengers arriving in Nigeria from Brazil, India and Turkey.
These precautionary measures, the federal government said, are a necessary step to mitigate the risk of importation of variants of concern and break the chain of transmission to the population.
The chairman of the PSC, Boss Mustapha, said under the measures, passengers arriving from/or that have visited any of these three countries within fourteen (14) days prior to the visit to Nigeria, are required to follow mandatory arrival quarantine and testing protocols in designated facilities.
However, many travellers failed to observe the compulsory isolation or present themselves for the PCR repeat test on day seven, various findings have shown.
The PSC had previously published names and passport numbers of defaulters as measures to deter other travellers from failing to adhere to the protocols.