The federal government expressed bitter disappointment on Sunday, announcing that it has impounded an aircraft owned by a UK company being used to run commercial flight despite an existing ban on air travel to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
“Flair Aviation, a UK company, was given approval for humanitarian operations but regrettably we caught them conducting commercial flights,” Nigeria’s aviation minister Hadi Sirika tweeted. “The craft is impounded, (the) crew are being interrogated,” she added
Expressing disappointment in the order flouted by the UK aviation company, Sirika said the action was “callous.” And provocative, disclosing that “there shall be maximum penalty” for the aviation company’s decision to run commercial flights in Nigeria and that it is a “wrong time to try our resolve.”
The FG in late March announced that all airports in the country will be closed to international flights to prevent further spread of coronavirus. “Following the announcement of 10 new cases of COVID-19, Nigeria government announced the closure of all the country’s airports to all international flights as part of the measures to curb spread of the disease,” Nigerian government tweeted saying the measure will take effect from Monday, 23 March 2020. After the expiration of the initial closure to international flights, the government through the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 extended the measure for another four weeks in May 2020.
Meanwhile indications emerge yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari may address the nation today (Monday) on new procedures in the national response to the ravaging Coronavirus Pandemic, having received a progress report presented by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Task Force, Boss Mustapha gave the hint on Sunday after the PTF briefed President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Addressing newsmen, Mustapha said the President expressed satisfaction with the progress so far made by Nigeria in the campaign against the virus, in view of the resources and facilities available. The SGF, accompanied by other members of the PTF, including the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, and the National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr. Sani Aliyu, also gave reasons why the task force had been opposed to the idea of reopening congregation centers.
Speaking on his team’s briefing of the President, Mustapha said the next line of action from President Buhari would be to outline new procedures and guidelines for the next phase of the national response, especially as the first two weeks of the phased post-lockdown protocol would be ending today (Monday).
On the reactions of Nigerians and compliance level to the guidelines, Mustapha lamented that despite the fact that about 99% of the population had acknowledged the existence of Covid-19, many still held very dangerous beliefs that would make winning the war a herculean task. He said the task before the PTF now was getting Nigerians to give the fight against Covid-19 a community ownership, explaining that the fight would be more successful when it finally gained the attention of the communities and most of the processes of identifying, tracing and isolation.
He noted that COVID-19 would not go away soon, hence all citizens must take responsibility for the fight, own the response process, not just for themselves as individuals, but for their loved ones and the communities they belong to.
“We have been preaching that in the last one week. All our press conferences we emphasized that there must be a change and there must be a paradigm shift to community responsibility because we believe we have gotten to the stage of community transmission and the only way you can deal with community transmission is when you give the responsibility back to the community, not in terms of treating people, no. In terms of being conscious and aware of the fact that this thing is in our community and we have the collective resolve to ensure that we protect our people, particularly the aged, the sick, the ones that have underlying health conditions that are easily susceptible to the fatalities of COVID-19. And that is why as a task force we have stood very strong against congregations.
“Congregations are the easiest places where you can get infected in terms of transmission and that is why we try as much as possible to discourage congregations in all that we do. Because, the aged, the sick and the vulnerable will turn up in congregations and once they get infected it becomes another ball game all together. And so the zeal now and the drive will be geared towards community ownership”, he said.
On the level of success so far achieved by the PTF and the President’s impression of the process, the SGF said “We might not be there totally but I am confident that looking at the strategies that we are putting in place, going forward we will strengthen those objectives that we have substantially achieved which are purpose-driven in terms of dealing with Covid-19 and like I said it is not a 100 meter race, it is a marathon.”
