The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have agreed to pay for the accommodation and feeding of Nigerian evacuees during their 14-day mandatory quarantine in the country.
It would be recalled that the federal government had last week directed that Nigerians stranded overseas who wished to be evacuated would pay N297, 000 to cover their 14-day mandatory isolation, a move that was trailed by scathing criticisms.
However, speaking at today’s briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, the minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama said after much persuasion, both the CBN and NNPC agreed to foot the bills of the returnees.
He said the federal government had imposed advance payment of feeding and hotel bills on evacuees because it had no source of funding.
“After getting all the barrage from all around the world including that we were somehow conspiring with hotels to fleece Nigerians and make money for ourselves and other kinds of accusations, we continued to diverse to find a way through.
“They say that two heads are better than one. The honourable minister of environment, Dr Mahmoud Abubakar, called me on Friday and suggested that why not try NNPC and CBN. They have corporate social responsibility funding and I told him I will do that immediately.
“I got in touch with the governor of the CBN and he generously agreed. He said the amount I was talking about is over a billion naira because we have over 4000 Nigerians out there and if over 3000 of them come back, the cost of feeding and accommodation is over a billion naira that we don’t have. He said he was ready to share the cost with the NNPC.
“I spoke with the group managing director of NNPC and he said he was going to consult and thanks be to God today (Monday), he got back to me and he said he was going to meet with the governor of CBN and together, they will fund this portion, a very important one, the feeding and accommodation of the evacuees,” said Onyeama.
