A group of Nigerians, who recently returned from the United Kingdom, on Saturday protested their continued isolation by the Federal Government after 16 days of quarantine in Abuja.
The Federal Government COVID-19 policy for flight passengers into the country stipulates an institutionalised isolation for 14 days.
However, a series of videos showing the evacuees protesting at their Hotel in Wuse 2 area of the Federal Capital Territory, where the UK evacuees are presumably being isolated, circulated widely on social media.
They were heard expressing disapproval that, since their return to Nigeria on May 8, their passports had not been returned to them.
The face-mask-wearing evacuees, who occupied the entrance of the hotel with police officers and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps mounting standing guard, were seen agitating.
One of them could be heard saying, “They are just keeping us here to make money. Yes, the more they keep you here, the more money they make.”
Another yet-to-be-identified protester, speaking to someone off-camera, said, “Government has kept us here. Since we came on May 8, nobody has come to address us, except you that is talking to us. You are the first person coming to address us. We are not animals; this is our country. The place we have come from, they did not treat us this way.”
Another evacuee chimed in, saying, “We even had tests there.”
The unidentified protester, who donned a red T-shirt, added that each evacuee paid £350 to conduct COVID-19 tests before their departure from the UK
He said, “That is over N200,000, and they still haven’t addressed us. When we landed in Lagos, it was the same treatment. (For) five hours, we were under the sun, standing. Nobody gave us anything. Are we criminals? Is it a crime to go abroad for a holiday?
“Where we are coming from, we were treated as human beings. Why is our country treating us this way? Then you will come tomorrow and tell me to love my country? It is very unfair.”
