Surging Covid-19 and the absconding travellers

RECENTLY, the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, lamented that 18 per cent of passengers arriving the state through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) could not be traced for COVID-19 quarantine. Giving an update on the COVID-19 situation in the state, Sanwo-Olu said that between May 8, 2021, and July 7, 2021, a total of 50,322 passengers of interest arrived in Lagos via the MMIA, out of which 18 per cent could not be reached because they provided either wrong numbers or wrong contact details. He added: “Going forward, passengers that do not provide the right details, including a phone number through which they can be reached for monitoring and an address for isolation, will face serious sanctions, including fines and imprisonment according to our Lagos State Coronavirus Law of 2021. As dictated by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 (PSC), passengers from red-listed countries (India, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey) are required to observe mandatory isolation. So far, we have successfully isolated 2,386 passengers in Lagos State. Of this number, 15 per cent have absconded.”

The governor said that while the sanction for foreigners was the revocation of their Permanent Residency and deportation, Nigerians were expected to face prosecution to the full extent of the Lagos State COVID-19 Law. Indeed, according to media reports, over 10,000 inbound travellers from overseas shunned the compulsory COVID-19 testing and isolation after arriving in Nigeria through the two main air gateways, the MMIA and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Interestingly, data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that the number of confirmed cases had risen to 170,623 and 2,131 deaths as of Saturday, July 24. Nigerians are of course aware that the Federal Government, through the NCDC, has saddled states with the job of contact tracing.

It is indeed distressing that a group of Nigerians and non-Nigerians returning from countries ravaged by the Delta variant of COVID-19 cannot be found. Nigeria, like other countries of the world, is currently being assailed by that deadly variant of the disease. Since Covid-19 landed on the country’s shores through an Italian on February 20, 2020 through Lagos, governments at all levels, the private sector and Nigerians in general have expended huge resources on its management, including  prevention and treatment. Life has, to say the least, changed dramatically, with the populace facing inconveniences on a daily basis. Till date,  the Deposit Money Banks are still operating skeletally, and customers have to be given updates to know which specific branches are open on specific dates. In some parts of the country, religious and worship centres operate under fairly strict conditions imposed by the respective state governments.

Against this backdrop, it is unconscionable for any Nigerian returning from the red-listed states to shun the protocols put in place by the government to curtail the pandemic. The risk posed to the country is real, and it is not for nothing that the NCDC and the Lagos State government have been issuing threats to defaulters. But that, precisely, is where the problem lies: the fault is entirely the government’s. Pray, how did the absconding passengers manage to escape, as it were, putting the lives of fellow compatriots at risk? In serious climes, anyone who pulls off such a deadly stunt is assured of prosecution and a jail sentence, but the point is that with the protocols put in place and rigorously enforced by the governments of those countries, it is virtually impossible to do that. The offending travellers in this case certainly did not expect to face any serious consequences from the authorities, or they would not have acted like they did, flouting the law at will. By their criminal negligence, the authorities have already put the lives of Nigerians in jeopardy, with the offending travellers interacting daily with their innocent compatriots.

Sometime ago, the government published the names of 90 Nigerians who refused to quarantine, but it is still unclear if they have paid for their crime. The Federal Government and the Lagos State have a bounden duty to ensure that the absconding travellers are apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But more than that, they have a duty to ensure that this kind of incident does not happen ever again. Sadly, if experience over the years is any indication, this can only be a patriotic wish.

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