Nigeria to revoke visas of visitors without COVID test

ANKARA (AA) - Nigeria has warned that foreign visitors who fail to present their COVID-19 test certificates on arrival could have their visas revoked.

Addressing a news conference in the capital Abuja on Tuesday, immigration chief Muhammed Babandede said based on the powers he had and the additional conditions for entering the country, every visitor must have the COVID-19 test result.

"if you don't do the test, it means you have violated the condition of entering, your visa can be revoked and you can be removed immediately," he said.

"Lack of compliance is a threat to public health. The next visa for global travel is health, especially a COVID certificate."

Babandede said that 100 travelers have been placed under a temporary travel ban due to non-compliance to the mandatory seven-day post-arrival COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test.

“We have complied by blocking 100 passports from travel, which means, even if they go to the police and declare those passports missing, they cannot be reissued anywhere in the world."

He added: “They cannot cross our national borders until the period of six months or communication received from the right authorities stating that they have complied."

The West African country has so far confirmed 92,705 infections and 1,319 related deaths. Cases have been rising since last month.

On Tuesday, it recorded 1,354 new cases, the highest daily number since the outbreak. The previous high of 1,145 cases was recorded on Dec. 17, 2020.