The Federal Government has said that it has mandated the Ministry of Aviation and its relevant agency to take necessary reciprocal measures as may be permissible under the laws and other international obligations over the diplomatic spat with the Emirates airlines, operating from the UAE and other airlines from the Netherlands including the German Lufthansa Airline.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman, Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, said this Monday at the joint national briefing of the taskforce during his inoculation of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
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According to him, the Ministry of Aviation and the NCAA have been tasked to take necessary reciprocal measures against Emirate and Lufthansa airlines as may be permissible under the laws and other international obligations as regards the month-old engagement with the authorities of the UAE and the Netherlands over pre-departure testing requirements passengers should meet before travelling from Nigeria.
“For over a month, Nigeria has been engaged with the authorities of the UAE and the Netherlands over pre-departure testing requirements passengers should meet before travelling from Nigeria.
“The PTF has mandated the Ministry of Aviation and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to take necessary reciprocal measures as may be permissible under the laws and other international obligations which we are expected to discharge,” Mustapha said.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government temporarily ban Emirates Airline for violating the nation’s protocol and guidelines on COVID-19.
The disagreement was also based on the airlines accepting passengers for boarding that had only rapid antigen COVID test certificates issued by laboratories not on the list of ones approved by the Federal Government.
The rapid testing requirement was believed to have been added to address concerns that some passengers were presenting fraudulent PCR certificates to get around existing pre-flight testing rules.
