Imposing ban on African countries unfair, discriminatory: Akinwumi Adesina

The president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has described the travel bans and placement of African countries on the “red lists” of developed countries as unfair and discriminatory.
Mr Akinwumi had taken to Twitter to criticise how African countries were treated in response to the identification of the Omicron variant.
“Now that Omicron has been found in many non-African and developed countries, why are travels from those countries not banned? Why single out African countries? Singling out African countries is very unfair, non-scientific and discriminatory. Lift bans on African countries! @WHO,” Mr Adesina tweeted on Monday.
In a series of tweets last week, Mr Adesina noted that Africa was not the source of the COVID-19 pandemic and, as such, should not be penalised for new variants.
Mr Adesina’s comments followed Nigeria’s placement on the UK red list over growing concerns of the recently identified Omicron variant.
On Sunday, the UK announced a temporary suspension on reviewing and issuing visitor visa applications from all red list countries, including Nigeria.
“You cannot travel to the UK if you’ve been in a red list country in the previous 10 days unless you are a British or Irish national, have residence rights in the UK,” the commission had also said.
On Saturday, Peoples Gazette reported Nigeria’s addition to the UK red list, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid listing the new restrictions that would come into force on Tuesday.
The restrictions include out-bound passengers needing to provide either valid evidence of full vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative PCR test result within 48 hours of departure.
After confirming two cases of the Omicron variant on December 1, Nigeria joined the list of African countries, except those in North Africa, placed on the list as high-risk countries.
The new variant has spread to over 40 countries since it was first detected in South Africa last week. Omicron has been detected in 16 European Union and Schengen Area countries.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Hot news Home top
Police nab fake pastor, accomplice for allegedly stealing newborn baby in Niger
The suspect lured a nursing mother and her 4-week-old baby to the Kasuwan-Gwari Area.

Heading 4
Poor leadership, corruption affecting Nigeria’s power sector, says ex-TCN boss
He advocated the appointment of competent professionals based on merit rather than political considerations.

Heading 5
Several injured as 18-seater bus rams into market in Kwara
The injured were taken to a nearby hospital for emergency medical treatment.

Agriculture
Stakeholders seek plant-based protein policies to boost food security
She said plant-based proteins were critical to building sustainable food systems.

States
Edo security squad nabs 12 suspected cultists in Benin
He said the suspects had been handed over to the police for further investigation.

Heading 4
PCRC partners police on safe school programme
The police spokesman commended the PCRC leadership for hosting him.





