Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has extended the ban imposed on local and international flights by an extra four weeks. This means the new resumption of flights and opening of airports will be in June.
In a briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 on Wednesday, Mr Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said after due consultation, the federal government decided to extend the flight ban by one month.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on April 21 approved the ban on flights to check the spread of coronavirus and due to the rising number of cases, the FG had review it again.
Speaking on the extension, the SGF said, “Tomorrow (Thursday) marks the last day for the enforcement of the closure of Nigeria’s airspace to flights.
“We have assessed the situation in the aviation industry and have come to the conclusion that given the facts available to us and based on the advice of experts, the ban on all flights will be extended for an additional four weeks.”
Mr Mustapha said the Minister of Aviation, Mr Hadi Sirika, would give more details on the extension and any development in due time.
The presidential task force Chairman also appealed to Nigerians to comply with the guidelines of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease.
The cases of COVID-19 crossed 3,000 on Wednesday.
