The federal government has announced the possibility of resuming flights between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
National incident manager of the presidential steering group on COVID-19, Mukhtar Muhammad, said both countries had agreed on the UAE government’s revised travel limits and conditions.
He explained that, in order to maintain harmony, the federal government has agreed to the COVID-19 testing requirement imposed by the UAE government in March 2021.
Direct flights between both countries were suspended in March over issues relating to COVID-19 protocol.
Director-general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Musa Nuhu, also stated that Emirates Airline would soon resume its flight operations in and out of Nigeria.
Nuhu said that there were still ongoing discussions with the airline.
In February, Emirates directed Nigerian travellers at the Lagos and Abuja airports to conduct rapid COVID-19 tests before departure, which led to a ban on Emirates flights in Nigeria.
The ban was later lifted after the airline agreed to stop the rapid antigen tests.
In a twist in March, the federal government reintroduced the ban, explaining that Emirates had continued to conduct rapid antigen tests for passengers before departure from Nigeria.
The NCAA had said the moves by Emirates violated the country’s COVID-19 protocols — while Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, described it as “discriminatory profiling” of Nigerian travellers.
