The Nigerian Immigration Service NIS has reaffirmed that the 58 doctors refused departure to the United Kingdom through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos did not have the required visa or any visa waiver as being speculated.
A senior official of the NIS who disclosed this said the issue is being handled by the Comptroller General of the NIS, Mohammed Babandede.
He revealed that the young doctors who are between the ages of twenty and the early forties had arrived the airport with the intention of travelling to the UK, but were refused departure, because they did not have the required documents or permission to travel during this covid pandemic period.
Investigations revealed that a UK bound aircraft that was supposed to convey the doctors was granted clearance by the ministry of aviation to operate an essential chartered flight into the airport to airlift 42 Nigerian medical doctors to attend a Healthcare Specialist Training arranged for doctors in the United kingdom.
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Unfortunately, according to the NIS, the doctors were not coordinated as there was no communication from the issuing country and the departing countries of their movement.
(Editor: Ifeanyi Mark)
