Federal Government has said that airports would be reopened to international flights in weeks and not in months.
When international flights reopen, passengers are expected to show up at airports three hours before their flights.
The government said the extended ban on international travels was not made to punish Nigerians but mainly to keep Nigerians safe from the transmission of COVID-19.
This was made known by Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, while answering questions at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.
He said, “On the question about the reopening of the airports, I will like to use this medium to reiterate and to be consistent with what we’ve been saying. I want people to understand that this is not purely an aviation function.
“It also has to do with our health and is so huge that it made Mr President in his wisdom to set up the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. This is in the interest of the nation.”
The minister disclosed that operators in the civil aviation sector wanted the airports reopened a long time ago so they can return to business and stop revenue loss.
He stressed further that the ban on international flights had led to mass sacking of workers in the aviation sector and non-payment of salaries by airlines.
He said: “So we really want to open. But we can’t open alone, for within the space where we operate we’ve got all kinds of people there in the airports.
“We’ve got immigration, police, Customs, civil defense, port health, etc, and so the PTF has set up a technical committee to come up with a date when everybody will be happy to start.”
“So we will open as soon as all of us are happy to open. And I want to adopt what the coordinator has said; it will be in weeks rather than in months.”
Sirika appealed to Nigerians that they should not blame any government official for the ban on international flights.
He said: “We feel your pain. We know that this closure of airports has separated families and friends, denied people access to hospitals abroad, schools, businesses, etc. We feel this pain.”
