The Nigerian Government has unequivocally declared that passengers, especially international ones, who fail to comply with the Covid-19 protocol put in place to allow the safe reopening of Nigeria’s airspace for international travels will be suspended from travelling for six months.
The country’s airspace and airports were shut to flight operations in March to curb the spread of the lethal coronavirus disease which as of Monday has killed over 1,000 people in Nigeria.
The Country has already designated September 5 as the day the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, would be reopened for international flights. It is expected that Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu and a few others will join the list soon.
Providing updates during a briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 in Abuja this Monday, PTF National Coordinator, Sani Aliyu, said there would be sanctions for non-compliance with the guidelines on the part of the airlines and the passengers.
In Aliyu’s words , “There will definitely be sanctions if they do not comply. Sanctions to the airlines if they allow passengers without a Covid-19 PCR result to board, they will be sanctioned on arrival in Nigeria. That is the airline. For passengers that decline to do the test, at Day 7, we will still allow them after Day 14 to have a test done after which their details will be forwarded to Port Health, Immigration, and part of the security services.
“It is very likely we will put in place measures to enforce this by suspending travel up to six months or deny foreign travels altogether.
