Coronavirus: 16 Nigerians In China Not Willing To Return To Nigeria: Lai Mohammed

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, 16 Nigerians living in Wuhan, China hit by the deadly coronavirus have shown no interest to return home.

Speaking in Abuja on Friday, the minister said the federal government cannot stop Nigerians from travelling to China.

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 a need for absolute transparency and absolute honesty when they are filling out forms.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global emergency on coronavirus, which has continued to spread globally with death toll rising to 213 and more than 9,709 cases confirmed in mainland China.