As the countdown to the planned reopening of borders to international travellers on July 1 continues, the European Union Commission has circulated a list of 54 countries that are eligible to travel into Europe and Nigeria is clearly excluded.
According to reports by Schengenvisainfo.com, citizens from Nigeria, Qatar, Brazil, Russia and United States would not be permitted to travel into Europe until their coronavirus pandemic situation improves.
According to the report, the countries whose nationals have been granted permits into Europe include Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Australia, Bahamas, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Canada.
Others are Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau, Paraguay, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Serbia, South Korea, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Lebanon and Mauritius.
While speaking on the development, the European Union Commission’s spokesperson, Eric Manner said the Union had the right to select who would enter its borders. He added that the selection was based on health criteria.
He said: “The European Union has an internal process to determine from which countries it would be safe to accept travellers.”
On June 11, the European Union presented its recommendation on the reopening of internal Schengen borders on June 15 in a bid to allow Europeans travel freely within the borderless areas the way they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
