We Are Observing Some Countries Before Effecting Ban On UK Flights – FG

The Federal Government has come out to say that it is watching neighbouring nations like the Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana before deciding on travel ban to and fro the United Kingdom, where a new strain of coronavirus is troubling.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed recently revealed this when he featured on a Radio Nigeria programme, “Politics Nationwide” in Abuja.

According to him, there is a need for synergy with neighbouring countries for such a ban on UK flights to effective, so it has to be considered.

He added that even if the government is concerned over the importation of the COVID-19 new strain, it does not want to take a hasty decision.

His words, “Although the government is concerned over the importation of the COVID-19 new strain, it did not want to take a hasty decision.”

“We did not want to take a hasty decision to ban flight from the UK into Nigeria only to find out our people are going through Cotonou, Lome or Accra to come into the country.

“What the airlines will do is to transfer Nigerian passengers to these routes and they will enter the country through the land borders.

“This will lead to hardship to Nigerians because if you transfer your economy to other countries you lose a lot of money.

“However, if we get the concurrence of these other countries, we will not hesitate to do the needful.

“We are consulting and being very careful in order to take a proper decision.”