The Federal Government has said that it was in talks with representatives of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to bring an end to the impasse reached by the Nigerian government and the flag carrier of the UAE, Emirates Airline.
This was stated by the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, at the national briefing of the committee on Monday in Abuja.
He said, “The ministries of Foreign Affairs and Aviation will continue to dialogue with the representatives of the UAE to resolve the issue of the Emirates flights between Nigeria and the UAE.
“The protection of the interest of Nigerians remains our primary focus.”
Emirates had announced, in August, a suspension of its flights into and from Nigeria.
The airline, in a statement, informed travellers that “Affected flight bookings have been cancelled. Our Contact Centres are experiencing a greater volume of calls than anticipated. If your call is not related to travel within the next 48 hours, please consider calling back later.”
Prior to this suspension, the airline had said that flights into and from Nigeria was suspended indefinitely and a stand-off between both nations on what the appropriate form of testing for COVID-19 was had further extended the suspension of flight operations.
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Mustapha, at the briefing, had said that the PSC was embracing newer forms of COVID-19 protocols to harmonise with “existing global realities”.
He said, “On this note, the PSC will adopt a sustainable model and policy that will be unveiled soon. To begin with, India has been removed from the list of flagged countries in view of improved situation in that country.”
On another tangent, the chairman appealed to health workers in Nigeria to “consider the health situation in our country and call off their strike while the government continues to look into all matters that will improve the system, processes and welfare.”
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