By SINL Reporter
Nigerians stranded abroad as a result of COVID-19 pandemic will no longer have to bear the expenses of their two-week quarantine as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have offered to foot the bills
The bills, estimated to be about N1billion will cover the hotel accommodation and feeding for 3,000 out of the 4,000 people being expected.
They were trapped in various countries across the world as a result of global lockdown occasioned by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Recall the Federal government last week said it would no longer pay for their stay in isolation due to cash crunch.
Already, returnees from United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United States and the United Kingdom are in the country at government expense.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Geofrey Onyeama, made the disclosure during the PTF daily briefing in Abuja on Monday, explained that the apex bank and the NNPC agreed to pick the bills as part of their corporate responsibility roles.
According to Onyeama, government was not comfortable asking would-be returnees to pick their bills but for the paucity of funds.
“Minister of Environment, Dr. Mahmoud Abubakar, called me and suggested that we approach the NNPC and the CBN. He reminded me that the two organisations had corporate social responsibility funds.
“I got in touch with the Governor of the CBN (Godwin Emefiele) and the GMD of the NNPC (Mele Kyari). I thank them generously for agreeing to spend over N1 billion because we have over 4,000 Nigerians out there.
