Scarcity of the critical travel document otherwise known as yellow cards have hit the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
Many intending passengers who should have travelled since Tuesday were turned back as they could not obtain the the travel document from the Port Health Services, a unit of the Mederal Ministry of Health located at the airport as the affected passengers were asked to come back yesterday, Wednesday for the cards.
It was still the same story as yesterday as the yellow cards were not yet available.
Mostly affected by the scarcity were passengers travelling to African countries of South Africa and even Ghana, where Nigerian passengers are expected to present the yellow cards to their immigration officials on arrival.
The scarcity according to information gathered was traced to the directives from the ministry of health that all procedures regarding the issuance of yellow cards are followed.
Incoming passengers to such African countries who fail to present their yellow cards on arrival are often made to pay a higher price for it or even get quarantined by the immigration officials especially when there is a report of an epidemic.
The need for the Nigerian travellers to have the yellow cards became imperative with the just reported outbreak of monkeypox in parts of the country which the foreign countries may capitalise on to humiliate any Nigerian passenger who fails to present the document on arrival.