Covid-19: Reps Urge Buhari To Order Partial Reopening Of Airports

Nigerian House of Representatives has resolved to urge President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately direct the Presidential Taskforce on COVlD-19 and Ministry of Aviation and its agencies to commence local Flights beginning with the opening of at least one Airport in each of the six Geo-Political Zones to give all zones a sense of belonging and ensure equity and fairness.

The House also urged Federal Government to direct relevant agencies of the Ministry of Aviation to develop acceptable Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that will be in tandem with the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for the Airlines and Workers.

This resolution was reached by the Federal Lawmakers after a motion moved by the Chief Whip of the House,
Rep. Mohammed Monguno from Borno State (APC) on the urgent need for the federal government to reopen at least one airport in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country which was seconded by Rep. Haruna Mshelia during the Tuesday plenary at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja

Rep. Monguno who stated that though the coronavirus pandemic has halted air travel worldwide, local flights that are vital are permitted and monitored in other countries, called on the federal government to imitate this and ease the ban on flights to allow for some form of resumption in air travel to ease the hardship faced by Nigerians and to save the jobs of the airline workers.

In the body of the motion Rep Monguno said “the House Notes that Nigerian Government closed its airports to the international traffic on March 23rd and a week |ater all the local traffics were also stopped following the discovery of first index case of the COVlD-19 pandemic to curtail the spread of the virus.

“Also notes that the coronavirus pandemic has brought global air travel to an unprecedented halt as the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization (WTO) states that 100% of 217 countries worldwide have COVlD-19 related travel restrictions in place. Such measures, the WTO says, represent “the most severe restriction on international travel in history’

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“Further notes that most countries in the world have maintained guided local flight for easy movement of people especially the essential workers and goods but banned international flights.

“Aware that the continued ban on local flights will further suffocate the economy and equally cripple the local air transport sector including several other ancillary businesses directly or indirectly linked to it and thereby escalate the unemployment situation in the country.

“Further aware: that some of the airlines and other service providers within the industry immediately sent their staff on compulsory leave without pay and thus brought untold hardships to many homes directly or indirectly connected to the affected employees.

“Also aware that all the statutory agencies like the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN). Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, (NAMA), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) the Nigerian College Aviation Technology, (NCAt) Zaire, the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, (NIMET) and the Air Accident Investigation Bureau, (AlB) which generate their revenue when the aero planes are struggling to pay staff salary at the moment.

“Concerned that travelling within the country has become a severe nightmare as a result of the poor state of our roads and the challenging security situation makes the reopening of our airports more imperative.

“Also concerned that most of the airplanes now lying idle at the various airports across the country will require huge sums of money in hard currency to service them if efforts are not made to put them back into operations thus posing more hardship for the operators.

“Further directs Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Nigeria Civil aviation Authority (NCAA) to ensure that airports and aircraft are routinely disinfected promptly”.

The House therefore unanimously mandated the House Committee on Aviation, Legislative Compliance and Ad hoc Committee on COVlD-19 to monitor compliance and report back to
the house within two weeks for further Legislative actions.