The Nigerian government is moving to reciprocate the decision of the United Kingdom, Canada and Saudi Arabia, to place Nigeria on covid red list.
The decision, which has been widely criticized, has become a bone of contention between Africa’s most populous nation and the UK, who in addition, has placed Nigeria on visa ban till further notice.
It has been a week since the decision went into effect, a period of time considered long enough for Canada, Saudi Arabia and the UK to rescind their travel restrictions given the amount of backlash that has followed it.
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Now, the Nigerian government says it will take reciprocity steps, which will include stopping airlines from those countries coming into Nigeria; Sahara Reporters reported, citing an audio recording of the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, it obtained on Saturday.
According to the report, the minister noted that if the countries placed Nigeria on a red list, they lacked a moral right to have their airlines coming to Nigeria for commercial services.
“There is also a case of Saudi Arabia that put Nigeria on the ban list; Canada. Today, there was a meeting in which I participated from the COVID-19 Task Force.
“We have given our input that it is not acceptable by us and we recommend that those countries – Canada, UK, Saudi Arabia and Argentina – be also put on the red list.
“So, like they did to us, if they don’t allow our citizens into their country; who are they coming as airlines to pick out of our country?
“So, they are not supposed to come in. I am very sure in the next three days; Monday or Tuesday, all those countries will be put on the red list of COVID-19.
“Once they are on the red list, which means they are banned, their airlines will also be banned. I am so sorry we are going through difficult times, but it is in the interest of our country,” he said.
This is coming a day after the federal government of Nigeria had taken a retaliatory decision against Emirate Airline over United Arab Emirate’s decision to limit Nigeria’s airline, Air Peace, to one weekly flight to the UAE, whereas Emirates got the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA),s approval for 21 weekly flights to Nigeria.
So far, Nigeria has only six confirmed cases of Omicron variant compared with the UK’s over 633 cases. This evidently lends credence to the discrimination description of the travel ban placed on Nigeria by the UK and others.
The Nigerian government has been applauded for taken a reciprocity step in response to UAE’s decision to narrow Air Peace’s flight into the country to one. It is believed that the decision will send a warning message that Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, can no longer stand and watch its political and economic interests being discriminatorily derided by developed countries.
While concerns remain about the economic impacts of the reciprocity, the move to take retaliatory travel ban measures against Saudi Arabia, Canada and the United Kingdom has also been applauded.