At least 253 Nigerians evacuated from the United Arab Emirates, UAE, on May 6, have been issued back their international passports by the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS Command at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
Lagos Airport Comptroller of the NIS, Abdullahi Usman, who confirmed this, noted that the returnees had to be issued back their passports on Thursday, May 21, 2020, at the airport after successfully undergoing the 14-day isolation required by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, upon arrival in the country.
Usman explained that when the returnees arrived two weeks ago, they could not be cleared in, as their travel documents were kept in the custody of the NIS since the returnees had to be quarantined immediately as spelt out by the NCDC.
He said 243 of the returnees who had tested negative and issued NCDC certificates, were received by immigration officers on Thursday who now cleared them via the Migration Information and Data Analysis System, MIDAS, and all information arrival formalities carried out.
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The Nigeria returnees from Dubai were the first batch of Nigerians repatriated abroad as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
