FG places travel bans travel on China, USA, UK, Germany, 9 others

ITREALMS:

THE Federal Government (FG) has issued a travel ban on 13 countries over the spread of the Coronavirus, otherwise known as CoVID19, with effect from Saturday, March 21, 2020, reports ITREALMS.

Disclosing this development, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, said Tuesday after a closed-door meeting with the Presidential Task Force Committee on COVID-19 in Abuja, that the ban affected some 13 countries including China, Iran, South Korea, Germany, Italy, USA, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, France, and Japan.

He also said the committee after a meeting concluded that all officials in the Ministries, Department, and Agencies, comprising parastatals to stop all forms of travels out of the country for whatever reasons.

“At the conclusion of the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the control of COVID-19, the committee has reached some decisions.

“We have decided to advise that all officials in the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies including parastatals, that government has banned all forms of travels out of the country for whatever reasons.

“Whether for meetings, bi-lateral, multilateral, conferences, seminars, workshops and any form of other ceremonies. And this ban will remain in place until further notice and until the situation of pandemic nature of the COVID-19 stops.

FG warned that “By this notice, any prior approval to travel abroad on official assignment during this period is accordingly resisted.”

As said by Mustapha, the committee equally urged for scaling up the nation’s health emergency system to the highest level and put in measures to curb further spread of the disease.

The committee headed by the SGF also advised the citizens strongly in their own interest to cancel or postpone all non-essential travel abroad including business and vacation trips.

“This is especially so, especially when it comes to the countries known to be seriously affected by the COVID-19.

“Secondly, we urge anyone returning to Nigeria from any country to strictly self-isolate for 14 days. And that all people returning from countries with high community transmission rate, especially countries that have recorded a thousand cumulative cases and above would be actively isolated for 14 days by the health authorities,” he said.

The nation’s chief scribe said that the Nigerian government was also in support of measures taken by the government of other countries, particularly high burden countries who have urged their citizens to stay home and avoid non-essential travels.

*Uboshe Uboshe with additional reports from NAN

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Ambazonia president, abducted in Abuja, 9 others

ITREALMS:

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has strongly condemned the abduction of its President, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine other senior officials by gunmen from la Republic du Cameroun, reports ITRealms.

The abduction which took place at about 19:30 pm in Nera Hotels, (Ekwueme Road),  on Friday January 5, 2018 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria, Abuja.

According to the Secretary of Communications and Information Technology, Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Mr. Chris Anu, told ITRealms that the action of Cameroun is criminal and that the abduction took place during a meeting chaired by H.E. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Those arrested along with the President H.E. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe include Dr. Nfor Ngala Nfor, Chairman of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), Dr. Fidelis Nde Che, Dr. Henry Kimeng, Prof. Awasum,  Dr. Cornelius Kwanga,  Mr. Tassang Wilfred, Barrister Eyambe Elias, Dr. Ojong Okongho and Barrister Nalowa Bih.

“The President and his team were in a High Command meeting in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria at the time the Cameroun gunmen showed up at the hotel. The meeting started at around 5pm, Nigerian time. At around 7:30PM, the gunmen came into the hotel and abducted all of them including the President,” he said.

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the Southern Cameroons Refugee crisis in Nigeria and to galvanize relief support for housing, medical and feeding in anticipation of the approaching rainy season.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has been notified of the incident and is currently investigating the situation.

“The Interim Government of the Southern Cameroons calls on all Southern Cameroonians to remain calm as it pursues investigations,” he said and condemned the continuous victimization on them via extra judicial killings orchestrated by President Paul Biya and his henchmen.

He also alleged that President Paul Biya and his henchmen must know that Southern Cameroonians will continue to assert their rights to self-determination and will hold Paul Biya to account on all the killings of Southern Cameroonians.

“We call on Nigerian authorities to address this issue immediately and ensure that the Cameroun Government does not do any harm to them. We also call on the Nigerian authorities to investigate this threat against its sovereignty by La Republique du Cameroun,” he said, calling further on the Nigerian government to guarantee the security of the more than 20,000 Southern Cameroonian refugees in various camps in Nigeria.

Uboshe Uboshe & Doris Minimah/GEE

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Pix; Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe