The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has dismissed the suggestion that foreigners are leaving Nigeria to back to their home countries in the face of the rampaging COVID-19 pandemic because of poor healthcare facilities in Nigeria,
According to him, it might be just that they would want to go back to the system they are used to and to be closer to their families.
Onyema in response to questions at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 which held on Friday in Abuja said that the evacuation of the foreigners by their countries does not necessarily have anything to do with the nation’s healthcare system.
They may have taken the decision to leave Nigeria as a result of the system that works best for them should any situation arise, the minister said.
“I think the foreigners who are leaving, whether there is something they know that we don’t know, I think it is a lot more innocent than that,” the ministers told reporters at the briefing.
“It is basically a case where people are more familiar with the health systems in their various countries and so prefer to go to the various countries so in the event that they might have to be confined, they will be in more familiar surroundings.
“And they will also have access to the medical practitioners that they are used to and, of course, facilities that they are used to. So that’s really the reason.”
The minister said that the facts those countries still have their ambassadors, heads of missions, and other staff in Nigeria and have no plans of leaving further accentuate his position.
