. International flights resume soon – Sirika

The federal government has extended the phase two of the eased lockdown by one month.

Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the Presidential Tasforce on COVID-19, disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

This comes as the Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika said international flights would resume soon, without giving a specific date.

Mustapha had on July 27 announced the extension of the current ease of lockdown by one week owing to Sallah festivities.

Mustapha, who also is the SGF said the current 10pm to 4am curfew is still in force. According to him, civil servants on grade level 12 and above are now to resume work on full working time, while government meetings are to remain virtual for now.

At the media briefing by the COVID-19 taskforce, the aviation minister hinted all international flights would resume soon. He however did not give specific date.

Sirika said: “We in civil aviation want to open like yesterday. We are bleeding. We are sacking our workers, we are not paying salaries.

“We must move or fly from one point to another in order for us to remain in business but that is not the case now. So, we really want to open but we can’t open alone.

“PTF has set up a technical committee to come up with the state where everybody is happy to start.

“If it were up to us, we won’t even close the airports but we were forced by the virus to close.

“So, we will open as soon as all of us are happy to open and I want to adopt what the national coordinator has said by saying, it will be in weeks rather than in months for international flights to resume.

“We feel your pain and we know that the closure of the airports has separated families and friends and denied some access to hospitals abroad, schools and businesses.”