The Ministry of Aviation announced that Nigeria would enforce the policy of reciprocity, as international flights resume on September 5. This announcement was welcomed with support from some stakeholders in the industry, who believe it’s long overdue. However, others say the country should tread with caution.
Last Thursday, during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority )NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, represented the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika. During this briefing, Nuhu said the policy means only airlines form countries that allow flights from Nigeria, would be permitted to fly in and out of the country.
He said: “There are certain countries that have placed ban on Nigerians and residents of Nigeria going to that country and this process will determine who and who will be allowed to come into Nigeria. The principle of reciprocity will be applied. The conditions you gave Nigerians to travel to your country will apply to those coming from your country.
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“If you ban us from coming to your country, the same will apply to you because we have to get a level playing field on the issue of principle of reciprocity. For this process, we had a meeting with foreign airlines on Wednesday. We gave them our requirements on the resumption of flights, for those who will ultimately be allowed to resume flight operations. Nigeria was among 50 countries banned from entering the EU countries. As far as we know, there has not been any change. So the principle of reciprocity will apply.”
Nigeria was excluded from the list of countries whose nationals will be permitted to enter into the 27 countries that make up the European Union Commission, after it lifted flight restrictions. With the ease of lockdown restrictions, the EU released a draft f 54 countries that will be granted entry into its borders. Some of the countries include: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, and China.
Spokemans for the EU commission, Eric Mamer said: “The European Union has an internal process to determine from which countries it would be safe to accept travelers.”
The policy was welcomed by mane, however the reality that over 27 countries would be restricted and passengers are limited to 1,280. During a virtual stakeholders meeting, which was held a few days ago, the Managing Director of the Federal Aiport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Captain Rabi Yadudu, said the agency lost N18.9 billion internally generate revenue, which makes up 90 per cent revenue loss in 23 weeks. This was due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also spoke over the guidelines allowing 1,280 passengers, saying: “The figure automatically translates to fewer passengers and limited income even with the resumption of international operations. All these are issues of great concern to the authority and partly what has necessitated the need for all our stakeholders to rub minds on strategies to adopt to ensure that the industry remains in operation to provide the much-needed service.”
