Nigeria managed the covid-19 paralysis better than the UK. Yes, you can throw those statistics that Nigeria does not keep records for a decent comparison. Yet, we do not need government data to know when citizens are dying here and there. So, allowing the UK to seem like a more serious country on curtailing covid-19 would have been a big mistake.
That was why I joined some Africans to demand that UK rescinds its ban on travels from Africa because technically it was UK that was risking Africans including Nigeria as it recorded more troubles during the pandemic than Nigeria: ‘The United Kingdom will remove the travel red list that has pitied it against African countries who saw the decision as “discriminatory” and “unjustifiable.”’
The United Kingdom will remove the travel red list that has pitied it against African countries who saw the decision as “discriminatory” and “unjustifiable.”
The government has said that all 11 countries will be removed from the UK’s travel red list from 4am on Wednesday, putting an end to the diplomatic controversy the decision has stirred.
Late November, the UK announced it has placed Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe on a red list to prevent further spread of Omicron, the newest covid variant, from these countries.
The travel ban was widely condemned especially in Africa, with the UN calling it “travel apartheid.” The UK had earlier said it will not reverse the decision even as countries like Nigeria threatened to reciprocate.
I thank the leaders of the UK for doing just that. Now, we can leave our blackouts, bad roads, unworking clinics, insecurity, etc and travel easily to the UK. As the 2023 approaches, the UK health system will be welcoming many special visitors from Nigeria who need to be “cleansed and checked” by doctors to avoid distraction during campaigns. So, we’re ready: 2022 is the year for UK travel; covid-19 restrictions gone!
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It’s neither here nor there, so either way, it does appear that we are not getting one over our detractors from the other side of the Atlantic.
Nigeria is up there as the best manager of Covid-19, if scientific reason doesn’t show you that, practical reason is very evidential, no superior validation to it. So, when underperforming countries start their usual ridiculous posturing, it does feel like they just want to get noticed, except that they are that dumb not recognize that we are doing much better in certain areas, their appraisal or validation is irrelevant.
Again, when thoughtless travel bans happen, our reactions are always mixed, because on one hand, we find them insulting and humiliating, and on the other – they help to keep our funny politicians in one place; so it remains a quandary, either way.
We just need to have some belief in our abilities, do our thing, hype ourselves, cancel any nation that cancels us, and then keep forging ahead; that’s what each country that christened itself as ‘developed’ does, it doesn’t mean that they are much better.
North Korea isn’t doing much or having plenty diplomatic entreaties, yet no one wants to annoy them, because you are not sure how they are going to respond…