QATAR BANS NIGERIANS WITH INVALID POLIO CERTIFICATE

The Qatari authorities have banned Nigerians without valid certificate of vaccination against polio from their country with effect from June 29, 2015, as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the disease in that country.

The Deputy Director, Press, Federal Capital Territory Administration, Mohammed Sule, in a statement on Sunday said government attention was drawn to the ban by the Department of State Services.

In view of this, it said the FCT Permanent Secretary, John Chukwu, has impressed it on intending travellers, particularly those resident in the Federal Capital Territory, on the need to obtain duly signed and stamped yellow book on polio and other communicable diseases.

“Chukwu reiterated that obtaining of this yellow book on polio and other communicable diseases is very necessary to avoid embarrassment at the port of entry into the country,” the statement added.

But the action of Qatar appears curious in view of the fact that Nigeria has not recorded a single case of polio for the last one year.

Nigeria’s polio-free period, dating from July 24, 2014, is the longest it has gone without recording a case, raising hopes that the disease may be eradicated on the entire African continent.

The last case of polio infection was recorded in Somalia on August 11, 2014.

When contacted, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmedu Ogbole-Ode, could not confirm if there was an official letter from the Qatari government on the ban, but promised to find out on Monday.

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