By Chinelo Obogo
Nigerian Civil Aviation Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said the Federal Government has not received any official correspondence from the United Arab Emirates(UAE) over the lifting of flight restrictions placed on Nigeria.
Reacting to reports that the UAE has lifted flight restriction, the Director General of the agency, Capt. Musa Nuhu, who spoke to reporters in Lagos on Friday, said that the Ministry of Aviation and the Presidential Taskforce on Covid19 will take appropriate actions only when the Nigerian government has been officially informed by the UAE through proper diplomatic channels.
The UAE had on Thursday announced that the restriction on flights arriving from Nigeria and 11 other African nations will be lifted on Saturday, January 29.
UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) which said it was lifting the ban initially imposed as part of measures to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, also said flight arrivals can resume from countries like Botswana, Congo Republic, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
“The excluded categories should present a negative COVID-19 test obtained within 48 hours of departure and a Rapid-PCR test at the airport within six hours of departure whenever possible and another PCR test at the airport upon arrival to UAE,” NCEMA said.
Capt. Nuhu said that though the country manager of Emirates Airline had visited his office to inform him of the development, the agency won’t act on it until the Nigerian government is officially informed.
.“The Country Manager of Emirates Airlines came to my office on Thursday and he submitted a letter of release by the Dubai Airport lifting the ban on Nigeria and 11 other African countries.
“But, what I told him is that the issue of flight operations between Nigeria and UAE is based on BASA. Nigeria as a government, we don’t deal with an airline, we deal with the authorities of UAE. I told him that the Civil Aviation Authority of UAE should write to us officially through the diplomatic channels. When we have that, it means the Nigerian Government is in official communication from UAE. As soon as that letter comes in, I am sure it is going to come may be Friday or Saturday, we will act on it.
“Unofficially, we are not aware because I need the UAE CAA to officially inform me through government to government channel. So, when we get that it becomes official,” Nuhu said.
