The National
Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu, made
this known at its daily briefing on Monday.
Mr Aliyu said the
resumption of the evacuation process will be guided by some policies already
put in place.
He said with the new
protocol, the target is to evacuate a minimum of 1000 Nigerians per week.
This, he said is to
clear the backlog of over 4,000 stranded Nigerians in the next four weeks.
He, however, did not
mention the specific date the evacuation will commence.
The government had
on May 27 announced the temporary suspension of the evacuation process to allow
take-off of a new policy, according to the minister of foreign affairs,
Geoffrey Onyeama.
Before the halt,
Nigeria had airlifted hundreds of its citizens from the UK, U.S., Saudi Arabia
and others due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused over 400,000 deaths
globally.
’New policy’
Mr Aliyu said the
new policy seeks to make use of the limited resources and ensure that Nigerians
are safely returned home.
He said evacuees
will be required to sign an undertaking promising to abide by the guidelines
and safety precautions put in place
“But if they wish,
they can stay at home, provided they undergo self-isolation at home, ” he said.
The new protocols
were jointly designed by various agencies of government including the Federal
Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Federal Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, immigration and security
authorities as well as the aviation sector.
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