The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said Nigeria has not banned flights from the UK because other African neighbors are yet to.
speaking during a radio program ‘Politics Nationwide’ in the countries capital, Abuja, the minister said “Although the government is concerned over the importation of the COVID-19 new strain, it did not want to take a hasty decision.”
He further stated that the Presidential Task Force ( PTF) on COVID-19 deliberated on the issue at its meeting on Monday and decided to watch the development for the time being.
Adding Nigeria is working with West African Health Organisations and other neighboring countries, particularly the Benin Republic, Togo, and Ghana.
“We did not want to take a hasty decision to ban flight from the UK into Nigeria only to find out our people are going through Cotonou, Lome, or Accra to come into the country.
“What the airlines will do is to transfer Nigerian passengers to these routes and they will enter the country through the land borders.
“This will lead into hardship to Nigerians because if you transfer your economy to other countries you lose a lot of money
“However, if we get the concurrence of these other countries, we will not hesitate to do the needful.
“We are consulting and being very careful in order to take a proper decision,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has banned large gatherings, restricting the crowd at a wedding, seminars, conferences, and other programs to a maximum of 50.
