25 August 2020
Cross River and four other coastal states in Nigeria have been blacklisted by the United States Government over issues bordering on 'heightened risk of kidnapping and maritime crime, along with violent civil unrest and attacks against expatriate oil workers and facilities', NEGROIDHAVEN has garnered.
The warning which is contained in a recent travel advisory statement published on the website of the US Department of State advised Americans against traveling to such coastal states in Nigeria as Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States (with the exception of Port Harcourt) including Cross River.
The statement which cautioned US citizens against traveling to these earlier mentioned coastal areas further stressed 'Do not travel to; Borno and Yobe States and Northern Adamawa State due to terrorism; Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano and Yobe States due to kidnapping'.
Beyond inter-communal violence which is evident in sixteen out of 18 local government areas of Cross River, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, others, the US Centre for Disease Control, CDC, has added the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic as another reason to 'Reconsider travel to Nigeria…'; as such the CDC has issued a level 3 Travel Health Notice for the country due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
As at yesterday, Cross River has 82 confirmed cases of Covid-19 while Akwa Ibom has 271, Bayelsa 373, Rivers 2063, and Delta 1708 (of the pandemic).