Nigeria’s minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said that the Nigeria government is ready to open airports for domestic flights within the country. He said the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is 90 percent ready to open the nation’s airways for domestic flight.
The minister made the statement after test running an Aero Contractor flight from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja to Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
He said passengers will be screened in line with COVID-19 protocols as provided for by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) against the coronavirus pandemic.
He also said passengers would arrive the airports three to five hours before boarding and the plane taking off.
But for me, I’m still very much afraid of this decision of the government, except the government wants us to believe that the coronavirus pandemic is not real as many are believing. But we can’t dispel the fact about the virus in the country.
I have my fears. Yes, the government may say it cannot continue to lockdown the nation, especially critical aspects that help in growing thee national economy. But it is important to know that lives of Nigerians are more important than the economy of the country.
As at yesterday, the nation recorded 544 cases of coronavirus and the total for the nation stands at 28,711 confirmed cases in the country, with 11,665 discharged and 645 deaths. This shows that the virus is still very much in the country.
With the opening of road borders and now opening of flights, Nigeria should be preparing for more cases of COVID-19. But the solace is that the disease is not as killing in Nigeria as we were made to believe when it was yet to invade Nigeria.
