NATIONAL: VIPs, Govt personnel who disregard Covid-19 travel protocols will be dealt with – PTF

GOVERNMENT officials and Very Important Personalities will face repercussions for flouting travel protocols, the Federal Government has said.

This was disclosed by the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, in a Twitter video posted by the Ministry of Information and Culture on Wednesday.

The federal government vowed to identify and punish officials who flout ravel protocols such as taking the compulsory Covid-19 tests after returning into the country.

“We want to change people’s behaviour. We’ve shown that we are going to do it. We have done it and we will continue to do it every week until things change. It is not like we want to punish people but if you continue to put our country at risk, we will take action.

“Next week, we will publish another 100, subsequent weeks, we will continue to publish until we see an improvement in terms of the compliance. So, whether you are a VIP, whether you are a government official, whether you are in a leadership position, if you do not follow the travel protocols, there will be repercussions.

“We do not publish names because the essence of doing the entire exercise is to force people to comply with our protocols.”

The statement is coming four days after the passport numbers of 100 travellers who were found to have failed to undergo the compulsory Covid-19 tests upon their return to the country, where released by the Federal Government.

Travel restriction was placed on the passport holders for six months from January 1, 2021, to June 30, 2021.