The Federal Government will from Tuesday, restrict airlines coming from Canada, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia into Nigeria.
The minister of Aviation, Captain Hadi Sirika, who announced the decision today at Lagos, explained that it was to reciprocate restricted flights from Nigeria into those countries over the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.
Captain Sirika said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration would also place the United Kingdom, Canada and Saudi Arabia on a red list over the outbreak and spread of the Omicron variant.
The minister noted that if those countries placed Nigeria on a red list, they lacked a moral right to have their airlines fly into Nigeria on commercial operations.
He stressed that airlines of the affected countries remained banned and the countries placed on Nigeria’s red list.
The minister while apologizing to Nigerians intending to travel to those countries said, Nigerian government’s decision was in the best interest of the country.
