According to the Nigeria Diaspora Commission , about 2, 429 Nigerians have been evacuated on account of the global lockdown occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic.The lockdown and resultant closure of airports as well as ban on international flights were part of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Nigerian carriers, industry experts say, have not been properly treated in the selection of airlines positioned to evacuate Nigerians stranded across the globe. They said nebulous reasons cited by some foreign countries such as Canada in depriving Nigerian flag carriers the opportunity to discharge such responsibility after endorsement by their country amounted to a disservice.
However, an attempt by the carrier to air lift Nigerians stranded in Canada a few weeks ago triggered a diplomatic row as it was denied flight clearance by the foreign government on grounds suspected to be predatory practices by a foreign carrier. If the government did not give foreign carriers landing permits to evacuate Nigerians from other countries and land in Nigeria, they won’t do that.
Also speaking on the issue, a member of Aviation Round Table , a think-tank group in the industry, Engr. Sheri Kyari said that the negation of government directive by a government agency shows lack of synergy in governance and also lack of respect for the central authority.“This is giving us a very bad image in international community that our airlines are not safe, which is not true. This is a very wrong impression.
The Federal Government made it as a rule before it renewed the evacuation of Nigerians that only indigenous airlines should airlift Nigerians abroad. It took the decision after meetings with the National Assembly. Emirates, on May 06, evacuated 265 Nigerians from Dubai. British Airways on May 08, evacuated over 253 Nigerians from London while Ethiopian Airlines airlifted a batch of Nigerians from the United States.
“Air Peace apart from the operations it did to evacuate Nigerians from South Africa during the xenophobic attacks last year has handled two special charters this COVID 19 period to China for medical evacuation and to Israel to evacuate Israeli nationals out of Nigeria and Max Air has been operating in Hajj without hitches.
Before the COVID -19 pandemic, Air Peace was already operating flights on the Sharjah / Dubai route in United Arab Emirates as a flag carrier.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »
Source: LeadershipNGA - 🏆 4. / 77 Read more »
Source: LeadershipNGA - 🏆 4. / 77 Read more »
Source: LeadershipNGA - 🏆 4. / 77 Read more »
Source: LeadershipNGA - 🏆 4. / 77 Read more »
Source: LeadershipNGA - 🏆 4. / 77 Read more »