By Olawale Ajimotokan
The federal government has announced the suspension of inbound and outbound flights by Emirates Airlines from midnight of Wednesday.
The suspension followed the insistence of the Dubai-based airline to have PCR tests for passengers embarking from Nigeria within 72 hours of their flights in addition to Antigen Rapid Test at Nigerian airports and another PCR test on arrival in Dubai.
Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika announced the federal government’s decision yesterday, while giving updates at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja.
He said Nigeria as a country, considered as unacceptable and devoid of any sense of reasoning the grounds advanced by Emirates.
Sirika said Nigeria rejected the request of Emirates to subject Nigerian passengers to three PCR and a rapid antigen test 72 hours before flight and after arrival.
He stressed that that COVID-19 itself will incubate at least in or after 72 hours, adding that most of the time, PCR results were also being faked in most of the countries.
He added that the decision to suspend Emirates operations in Nigeria had been communicated to the airlines since Sunday.
“Therefore, we give the options to the airlines you either have a PCR test 72 hours before departure or have a PCR test on arrival or a Rapid test before departure and you have a PCR on arrival but not a combination of all the three because it makes no sense. It makes facilitation of passengers very cumbersome and our work very difficult. That passengers are going through unnecessary hardship not acceptable,” Sirika said.
Sirika also stated that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has accepted the conditions spelled out by the federal government to bring passengers in and out of the country by having a PCR Test within 72 hours. He noted the airline has agreed to start flying immediately.
“We have given them the options to do what we believe is safe and current and KLM has accepted to bring passengers in and out with the conditions we agreed on to have a PCR Test with 72 hours. Emirates did not accept that position so we have asked Emirates to be banned from operations midnight of Wednesday and that has been communicated to them since yesterday,” Sirika said.
Meanwhile the federal government has expressed worries at the growing list of European countries suspending the use of AstraZeneca Vaccines even when the World Health Organization (WHO) has assured that the vaccine is safe for use.
The National Incident Manager Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 Dr Mukhtar Mohammed expressed the concern yesterday at the PTF press briefing. He described the suspension of AstraZeneca vaccine over safety concerns in the last few hours as a major setback.
He, however, described as very reassuring that the regulatory agencies in the European countries have continued to emphasize that the vaccine is safe and the incidents of blood clotting in the patients is not higher than the risk of blood clotting in people who are not vaccinated.
He added that government was reassured by WHO statements about the efficacy of AstraZeneca Vaccines and use it as a guide for the implementation of its programmes while the Ministry of Health, NAFDAC National Primary Health Care Development Authority (NPHCDA) are working to reassure Nigerians and to get information on any side effects, people are experiencing in the country.
He urged the public to report the side effects like mild cough, cold and sign of being unwell to the right channels after three days of using the vaccine.
The PTF also warned citizens not to capitalize on the arrival of the vaccines to flout COVID -19 protocols while also condemning highly placed religious and political figures for using the situation to misinform the public about the efficacy and safety of the vaccines.
