The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced plans to stop commercial flights to the country from the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Argentina.
Recall that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said that the appropriate response to Nigeria’s ban by the UK and other countries was up to the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19.
The UK, which had on December 4 added Nigeria to its red list, imposed a travel ban to curtail the spread of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus. A few days later, Canada, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia followed suit.
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In recorded comments shared with journalists on Sunday, Nigeria’s aviation minister Hadi Sirika said he had recommended that the four countries should be placed on a COVID-19 “red list,” which would entail a ban on flights.
“We have given our input as aviation that it is not acceptable by us and we recommend that those countries, Canada, UK, Saudi Arabia and Argentina be also put on red list, just like they did similarly to us,” Sirika said.
“So, I am very sure between now and Monday or perhaps Tuesday maximum, all those countries will be put on the red list. Once they are on the red list, which means they are banned, their airlines will also be banned.”
