Director-General of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Joseph Ari, has called on the government of the United Kingdom to have a rethink about the decision to place Nigeria on travel ban due to the discovery of Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Ari said the travel ban, if not lifted as soon as possible, would have a negative effect on the prospect of the Nigerian economy and force the nation into another economic depression.
The DG made the call on Tuesday at a media forum organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists in Plateau State.
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He said, “It is sad and unfortunate that with three samples we have gotten in Nigeria, we started receiving travelling ban from the United Kingdom. It is very unfair for Nigeria to be placed on red alert.”
He added: “The world should realise that Nigeria is not the worst hit by COVID-19; it is on record that the UK and the US and entire Europe are much more affected by coronavirus than Nigeria.
“The proactive and decisive manner in which the Nigerian government managed the pandemic since its outbreak last year should be commended by the global community.
“That is why I see the travel ban as misplaced and should be reversed immediately.”
Meanwhile, he said the fund had developed and veered into ICT and online programme via zoom, virtual meetings with its collaborators worldwide that would ensure a safe and healthy working environment and how to run business and actualise profit in the COVID-19 period.
