‘Nigerians in Chinese city affected by coronavirus unwilling to return home’ – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has disclosed that Nigerians living in Chinese city of Wuhan where coronavirus was first noticed, have expressed unwillingness to return home.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday January 31, Lai Mohammed who noted that the federal government cannot stop Nigerians from travelling to China, stated that they are already in contact with 16 Nigerians living in Wuhan.

He said;

“We know it is a bit difficult to ban people from travelling.

“Another thing is that this is not a basis to stigmatise people who come from there.
“Even if we have Nigerians who are there, unless they indicate interest that they want to come home, we can’t force them.

“I know we have Nigerians in Wuhan; our Embassy in China has confirmed that we have about 16 Nigerians in Wuhan and they are in touch with them.

“They have, however, not indicated their interest to come home. They will, however, contact our embassy if they like to come home.

“We need a lot of public enlightenment. We need to let people who travel know that there is the need for absolute transparency and absolute honesty when they are filling out forms.”

This is coming after the Nigerian government issued a travel advisory to Nigerians, telling them not to travel to China over the flu-like virus ravaging the Asian country.