The Federal Government says the travel ban by the United Kingdom and other European countries on Nigerian travellers could pose more harm to livelihood and economies.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, made the disclosure during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme on Sunday.

His comment is coming in the wake of the travel restriction placed on Nigeria by Canada, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong as a result of the new COVID-19 strain – Omicron.

WuzupNigeria reports that some cases of the omicron variant announced in the UK on Saturday night were linked to Nigeria, forcing the British Government to restrict all flights emanating from Nigeria, effective Monday, December 6, 2021.

Furthermore, all pending visa applications in Nigeria have been suspended due to the ban on flights from Nigeria.

While the minister revealed that Nigeria has no intentions of retaliating by shutting its borders against inbound travellers, Ehanire noted that the effect of the ban could outweigh the “perceived value that will be derived from shutting movement between countries.”

However, Ehanire urged the foreign communities to follow the World Health Organisation’s advice that countries should focus more on collaboration rather than shutting borders.

While arguing that the Omicron strain could not yet be declared as a deadly strain because no deaths had so far been recorded across the world.

“We are watching what the science community is saying and of course not rushing to judgment and we are also not applauding any lockdowns or any prohibitions or banning of flights or movement of people until we know more.

“We believe that the harm it will do to livelihoods and economies may be more than the perceived value that will be derived from shutting movement between countries.

“I believe countries should come together to take a common approach and that includes the UK and other countries contemplating a red list,” Ehanire added.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control had last week reported three cases of the new variant, however, Ehanire argued that most of the inbound passengers that tested positive in Nigeria were actually from the UK.

“Because of the very large volume of travellers from the UK, we also have the most positive COVID-19 virus coming from the UK too,” the minister said.

Commenting on the possibility of a fourth wave in Nigeria, the minister added, “We had the so-called third wave already with the Delta variant. This is what we are looking at as the 4th wave and it was predicted as far back as a month ago that there might be a 4th wave in Nigeria and perhaps the world and it is already accurately manifesting. We hope it doesn’t get to be that and if it becomes the 4th wave, it will not be deadly to our citizens.”