Tony Akowe and Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja
SOME House of Representatives members who recently returned from foreign trips and refused to subject themselves to screening at airport are posing serious threat to the safety of Nigerians, the federal government has alerted.
The Presidency has drawn House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila’s attention to a report from Health Minister Osagie Ehanire informing the Presidency of the refusal of the lawmakers to subject themselves to screening at the airport.
The letter, signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, urged the Speaker to direct the concerned lawmakers who recently returned from trips abroad to report to the nearest National Council for Disease Control (NCDC) office for screening.
The letter reads: “The Honourable Minister of Health, recently reported to this office that some members of the House of Representatives are refusing to subject themselves to medical screening at airports.
“As you are aware, these airport screenings are our primary line of defense and refusal by any citizen to subject to these tests is a threat to our nation.
“Accordingly, you are kindly requested to direct all members of the House of Representatives who returned to Nigeria from foreign trips to report themselves to the nearest NCDC test centre with immediate effect.”
Spokesman of the House Benjamin Kalu told The Nation that he has seen the letter circulating online, stressing that it would be unpatriotic for anybody to refuse to go through the screening process.
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Kalu said since there are cameras at the airport, officials should go through the camera to identify those involved so that they can be traced and made to go through the screening.
The spokesman described the letter from the President’s CoS as a wake-up call for all Nigerians, warning that COVID-19 should not be taken with levity by anybody irrespective of status.
He said: “There is a screening process at the airport that is supposed to be obeyed by every patriotic citizen of this country irrespective of your status. It doesn’t matter if you are whether you are the President of the country, a senator or a member of the House or a governor.
“Health is very important. If yours’ is not important to you, that of others is important to them and any negligent act by being careless might affect a whole lot of Nigerians.
”Whether you are a House of Representative member or not, it doesn’t matter. Everybody is expected to subject himself to screening. I am sure he sent that same letter to the Senate. There is nothing wrong about that.
“Yes, I have seen that letter being circulated online. What I am taking away from it is that people should make efforts to comply with this particular heath policy and I am not seeing anything wrong with that letter.
“Adding my voice to what the CoS said, members or senators or whoever you are, comply with the simple instruction because this virus is real and does not care about your status. So, let us humble ourselves, wait a few minutes and pass through the checks.
“There is no humiliation in going into isolation if need be. You must save your family, friends and the people you work with. I think it is the patriotic thing to do and I commend the Chief of Staff to the President for rising that alarm and writing that letter.
“People should not misinterpret the letter because it is not an attack on the House of Representatives. The content of the letter is what should be taken which is that everyone should be careful no matter who you are.”
Kalu said it will be unpatriotic of any Nigerian not to pass through the screening after returning from a foreign trip.
He said: “Those people who pass through there without screening should be arrested and be properly checked before being released so that we don’t allow anyone who has this virus into circulation.”
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