Hadi-Sirika, former Aviation Minister
By GRACE AUDU, Abuja –
Nigeria’s Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika said on Thursday international flights would resume in the country in weeks.
On March 23, 2020, the Government banned all international flights as one way of checking the spread of COVID-19, which has infected a total of 45, 244 persons with 32,430 cases discharged and 930 deaths recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as of Thursday, according to the latest update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Since then, international flights in and out of the country have remained banned, with the exception of emergency and essential flights.
Speaking at the regular briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja, Sirika gave an indication international flight operations would resume in no distanct future.
The Minister did not disclose the specific date on which this would happen but said: “We in civil aviation want to open like yesterday.”
“We are bleeding,” he stressed.
“We are sacking our workers, we are not paying salaries (and) we must move or fly from one point to another in order for us to remain in business but that is not the case now.
“So, we really want to open but we can’t open alone.
“PTF has set up a technical committee to come up with the state where everybody is happy to start.
“If it were up to us, we won’t even close the airports but we were forced by the virus to close.”
Sirika assured Nigerians that the government also shared their concerns about the current situation but emphasised that the ban on international flights since March was in the best interest of the nation.
“We feel your pain and we know that the closure of the airports has separated families and friends and denied some access to hospitals abroad, schools and businesses.
“The continuous closure is not on purpose or punitive, it is just to ensure that we remain safe and healthy and the government is conscious of this fact and we are all aware of the adverse effect of the closure of the airport.”