Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika
Nigeria reciprocates travel ban, places UK, Saudi Arabia, Canada, on no-fly list
Starting from Tuesday, December 14, flights originating from the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Canada will be barred from entry into Nigeria, in what may appear retaliatory following the travel ban slammed on the West African nation by the aforementioned countries over recent detection of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus.
Confirming the order, Sunday, during a media conference, Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, explained that it was made in exchange for restricted flights from Nigeria to those countries over the latest Covid-19 variant, Omicron.
Incidentally, all the affected countries already have confirmed cases of the Omicron variant present in their countries.
According to Sirika, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration will also put the United Kingdom, Canada, and Saudi Arabia on a no-fly list because of the Omicron variant’s breakout and expansion.
“If those countries put Nigeria on a blacklist,” the minister said, “then they have no moral right to have their airlines fly into Nigeria on commercial flights.”
Continuing, Sirika said: “Then there’s the case of Saudi Arabia, which placed Nigeria on a no-fly list. I attended a meeting with the COVID-19 task team on Sunday.
“We have expressed our dissatisfaction with it, and we have urged that Canada, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina be included to the red list as well.”
“If they don’t let our folks into their nations, as they did to us, who are they going to pick from our country as airlines?”
“They are not permitted to enter. I am confident that in the next three days, on Monday or Tuesday, all of those nations will be included to COVID-19’s red list,” the minister stated.
He emphasized that the impacted countries’ airlines were still prohibited, and the countries were placed on Nigeria’s red list.
The minister apologised to Nigerians planning to visit such nations, but insisted that the Nigerian government’s move was in the country’s best interests.
