Nigeria to ban airlines of countries that placed her on red list from landing at the country's airports

NIGERIA is to introduce retaliatory travel bans on several countries as from tomorrow Tuesday December 14  in response to them restricting the entry of Nigerians under the guise of controlling the coronavirus pandemic by banning their airlines from landing.

Earlier this month, Canada, the UK and Saudi Arabia all introduced severe travel restrictions on Nigerians, suspending the issuance of visas among other things. Using the pretext that the measure in to curtail the spread of the Omicron strain of the Covid-19 virus, the measure has led to millions of Nigerians having to scrap their Christmas travel plans, while thousands are stranded worldwide.

Seeing the measures as unfair with no medical basis, the federal government has decided to reciprocate by also denying citizens of these three countries visas. Aviation minister Hadi Sirika, said that countries that placed a travel ban on Nigeria due to the Omicron Covid-19 variant lacked a moral right to have their airlines fly into Nigeria for commercial operations.

Mr Sirika said: “President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration will also place the United Kingdom, Canada and Saudi Arabia on a red list over the outbreak and spread of the Omicron variant. There is also the case of Saudi Arabia that put Nigeria on the ban list.

“We have given our input that it is not acceptable by us and we recommended that Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia and Argentina also be put on the red list. As they did to us, if they do not allow our citizens into their countries, who are they coming, as airlines, to pick from our country?

"They are not supposed to come in. I am very sure in the next three days on Monday or Tuesday, all those countries will be put on the red list of Covid-19.”

He stressed that airlines of the affected countries remained banned and the countries placed on Nigeria’s red list. Mr Sirika however, apologised to Nigerians intending to travel to those countries but said the government’s decision was in the interest of the country.