Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos

The Federal Government of Nigeria has said that its decision to postpone the resumption of international flights by one week as earlier scheduled for tomorrow, August 29 is to ensure that all essential protocols were put in place to forestall hitches.

The government had on March 30, ordered the suspension of international flights as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

Under the new arrangements, international flights into the country will now resume September 5, 2020.

The country’s Ministry of Aviation said in a tweet Thursday; “We regret to announce that the international flight resumption earlier scheduled to resume on 29th August has been shifted to September 5, 2020”.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority NCAA, Musa Nuhu, explained that the resumption was postponed to ensure all non-aviation logistics were put in place.

The NCAA DG, who spoke at the bi-weekly Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing, Thursday in Abuja, said the one-week extension was to ensure the smooth and efficient resumption of the flights.

He said: “Since the announcement that international flights will resume anytime from August 29, the aviation sector has worked assiduously to be ready for this date.

“The sector, including the airports is already working towards this line. However, we have other non-aviation logistics we are still working on and it has mostly to do with COVID-19 protocols test and open the online platform.

“We need to get all these ready and in place so that we have a smooth and efficient resumption of the international flights without difficulties for passengers”.

 Nuhu assured that all COVID-19 protocols to be followed for international flights will be released before the new date of resumption of flights.

It was also gathered that  a comprehensive list of countries from where passengers will not be allowed to fly into Nigeria will be made public before the new date of September 5.