It was unauthorised – Foreign Ministry retracts its ‘stay away from Abuja’ notice

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has recanted its earlier statement warning Ghanaians to avoid making non-essential trips to Nigeria’s national capital, Abuja.

In a statement dated Thursday, November 16, 2022, and issued on the letterhead of the ministry, members of the general public were asked to avoid travelling to the city due to security developments.

However in a rejoinder issued some hours after, the ministry said the contents of the earlier statement were unauthorised.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration wishes to refer to the travel advisory published this evening, Wednesday 16th November 2022 advising against non-essential travel to Abuja and wishes to state that the statement was unauthorised.

“The Ministry is not aware of any threat targeted at Ghanaians who continue to live in harmony with their Nigerian brothers and sisters,” the statement copied to the media said.

In the earlier statement, the ministry said the travel advisory was necessitated by recent security events in the Nigerian Capital.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration wishes to inform the travelling public about security developments in Abuja, Nigeria, and the subsequent directive by local authorities to hotels operating in residential buildings to shut down.

Accordingly, the public is advised to avoid non-essential travel to Abuja, due to the unpredictable security situation in the city, and the high danger of terrorism, criminality, inter-communal conflict, armed attacks, and kidnappings.

“Whilst advising travellers who must travel out of necessity to Abuja to take precautionary measures the Ministry will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates to the public when the situation improves,” it added.

However, in its latest statement, the ministry said it regrets any inconvenience that may have risen out of the travel advisory.