Indications emerged on Thursday that Nigeria's plan to reopen its local airports for operations on June 21 is slowed down by multiple hurdles in the aviation sector, as the most populous African country strives to navigate the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Nigerian government shut down airports for commercial flight operations on March 23, as part of the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. The government contemplated the reopening of the airports twice but ended up extending the exercise to allow for wider consultations.
Going by the prevailing situation, the plan to reopen the airports is "unrealistic" for now, the Nigerian Senate said after a meeting between lawmakers and local aviation workers on Thursday.
"Though you emphasized the need to unlock the airport, the fact remains that there are quite a number of issues that are begging for answers," Smart Adeyemi, chairman of the Nigerian Senate committee on aviation, told the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association who raised some concerns experienced by local aviation workers due to the pandemic.
The representatives of aviation workers said at the meeting that there was a need for special financial intervention and provision of necessary protocols, protective systems in view of the COVID-19 pandemic before reopening the airports for operations.
In addition to this, most aviation workers in the country had not been paid their wages since the country was locked down by the authorities since March, the aviation union said.
Noting the aviation sector is key to the socio-economic development of any country including Nigeria, Adeyemi said the legislature was already in talks with the executive to address the general issues.
"The aviation sector cannot be compromised for any reason, given its importance to economic development. There must be mechanisms put in place to ensure safety and confront the challenges facing the sector before unlocking the airports," Adeyemi said.
In a similar development, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Thursday said the date earlier set for the resumption of flights is no longer feasible.
"We never said aviation is going to start definitely on June 21... This is not a feasible date to resume operations," Musa Nuhu, director-general of the NCAA, told the media in Abuja.
According to Nuhu, the NCAA would not approve the resumption of flight operations until it is satisfied that the operations can be carried out "in a safe and organized manner."
"We (the NCAA) will not be pressured to approve resumption because doing that without the appropriate checks would be disastrous," he said further.
As a precondition for reopening the airports, aviation expert Llitrus Ahmadu said there is a need for the government to ensure the proper provision of protective equipment and other protocols, including the re-certification of pilots, airworthiness of the aircraft, and payment of the workers' salary, among other multiple issues that are currently being raised.
Xinhua
Friday, June 19, 2020
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Nigerian doctors stage 'indefinite' walk out, crippling Covid-19 response
Nigerian doctors in state hospitals have begun a nationwide strike, paralysing the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic as cases continue to rise steadily.
Members of an umbrella organisation representing all doctors employed by the government announced an indefinite strike yesterday to protest low salaries, a lack of "hazard" pay for treating virus patients and the "grossly inadequate" provision of protective equipment.
The doctors also demanded an end to the harassment and assault of medical workers by security agents enforcing curfews.
The National Association of Resident Doctors, which represents about 40 per cent of the country’s physicians, said the government had been given two weeks notice of the strike action but had failed to meet their demands.
In a statement given in the capital Abuja on Monday, the group’s president said that some Covid-19 patients in treatment and isolation centres would be exempted from any strike action. However, if the Nigerian government does not meet its demands in the next two weeks, those centres will be hit by the strikes, too.
Covid-19 is spreading rapidly across Africa’s most populous nation with some 16,000 recorded cases of the virus and 420 deaths. However, the real number of cases is almost certainly far higher than the official statistics because of a lack of testing materials. Nigeria has carried out just 94,000 tests on its population of about 200 million since the virus started to spread in March, according to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
There have also been several outbreaks of hundreds of "mysterious" deaths in the northern Nigerian states of Yobe and Kano since the outbreak began in March. Last week, the Nigerian health minister admitted that many of these deaths were probably due to Covid-19.
Nigeria already has worryingly few doctors for its population. The World Health Organisation recommends that countries have a ratio of one doctor to 600 people. Nigeria has one doctor for every 6,000 people. According to the Nigerian Medical Association, there are 72,000 registered Nigeria doctors but that more than 50 per cent of them practice outside the country.
Strikes by medical workers are frequent in Nigeria. Despite having Africa’s largest reserves of oil, the health sector has been left underfunded for decades. Many Nigerian elites, including the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari, prefer to fly abroad to London for medical treatment when they get ill.
So far the majority of Nigeria’s confirmed cases have been reported in Abuja, and Lagos and Kano, its two largest cities.
The Telegraph
Members of an umbrella organisation representing all doctors employed by the government announced an indefinite strike yesterday to protest low salaries, a lack of "hazard" pay for treating virus patients and the "grossly inadequate" provision of protective equipment.
The doctors also demanded an end to the harassment and assault of medical workers by security agents enforcing curfews.
The National Association of Resident Doctors, which represents about 40 per cent of the country’s physicians, said the government had been given two weeks notice of the strike action but had failed to meet their demands.
In a statement given in the capital Abuja on Monday, the group’s president said that some Covid-19 patients in treatment and isolation centres would be exempted from any strike action. However, if the Nigerian government does not meet its demands in the next two weeks, those centres will be hit by the strikes, too.
Covid-19 is spreading rapidly across Africa’s most populous nation with some 16,000 recorded cases of the virus and 420 deaths. However, the real number of cases is almost certainly far higher than the official statistics because of a lack of testing materials. Nigeria has carried out just 94,000 tests on its population of about 200 million since the virus started to spread in March, according to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
There have also been several outbreaks of hundreds of "mysterious" deaths in the northern Nigerian states of Yobe and Kano since the outbreak began in March. Last week, the Nigerian health minister admitted that many of these deaths were probably due to Covid-19.
Nigeria already has worryingly few doctors for its population. The World Health Organisation recommends that countries have a ratio of one doctor to 600 people. Nigeria has one doctor for every 6,000 people. According to the Nigerian Medical Association, there are 72,000 registered Nigeria doctors but that more than 50 per cent of them practice outside the country.
Strikes by medical workers are frequent in Nigeria. Despite having Africa’s largest reserves of oil, the health sector has been left underfunded for decades. Many Nigerian elites, including the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari, prefer to fly abroad to London for medical treatment when they get ill.
So far the majority of Nigeria’s confirmed cases have been reported in Abuja, and Lagos and Kano, its two largest cities.
The Telegraph
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Video - 20 soldiers, 40 civilians killed in attacks Nigeria's Borno state
At least 20 soldiers and more than 40 civilians have been killed, and hundreds injured in twin attacks in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, residents and a civilian task force fighter said. The attacks on Saturday, in the Monguno and Nganzai areas, came just days after armed fighters killed at least 81 people in a raid on a village in a third area, Gubio. Al Jazeera's Sara Khairat reports
Video - Nigeria's under-performance at 2010 FIFA WC still hurts the proud nation
Many Nigerian football fans and experts still feel the pain when they remember the 2010 World Cup. With so much promise before the tournament, the Super Eagles simply failed to take off and were dumped out in the first round. CGTN's Deji Badmus brings us more on the shattered dreams.
Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari orders probe into Aso Rock shooting
The Nigerian president has ordered an investigation after security guards reportedly shot into the air at his presidential palace.
The incident happened at Aso Rock following an altercation between one of the president's aides and his wife's bodyguards.
They had been arguing about the need for a presidential aide to self-isolate after returning from a trip.
Some of the First Lady's staff have been arrested.
No casualties were reported.
The incident happened last week but came to light at the weekend when both President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife Aisha spoke about it publicly.
The BBC's Ishaq Khalid in Abuja reports that the incident is seen as yet another sign of internal wrangling in Nigeria's government where officials often publicly disagree.
The First Lady Aisha Buhari has spoken out about her husband before, suggesting in a 2016 BBC interview that his government had been hijacked. He responded by saying his wife belonged in the kitchen.
Aisha Buhari's plea
President Buhari's spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement that the "minor" incident happened outside the main residence and that the president was not in any form of danger "arising, either from deadly infections or the reported incident by security personnel which is currently under investigation".
"That a minor occurrence is being used by some critics to justify attacks on the government and the person of President Muhammadu Buhari beggars belief," Mr Shehu added.
In a series of tweets, Mrs Buhari said she wanted authorities to make sure that anyone who had been travelling across states to go into 14-day quarantine - a reference to her husband's aide making a trip outside the capital, Abuja.
She then called upon the Inspector General of Police to release her staff "in order to avoid putting their lives in danger or exposure to Covid-19 while in their custody".
As part of the restrictions to try and contain coronavirus, Nigerians are banned from travelling outside their state.
There are 16,085 recorded cases of coronavirus in Nigeria and 420 confirmed deaths.
BBC
The incident happened at Aso Rock following an altercation between one of the president's aides and his wife's bodyguards.
They had been arguing about the need for a presidential aide to self-isolate after returning from a trip.
Some of the First Lady's staff have been arrested.
No casualties were reported.
The incident happened last week but came to light at the weekend when both President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife Aisha spoke about it publicly.
The BBC's Ishaq Khalid in Abuja reports that the incident is seen as yet another sign of internal wrangling in Nigeria's government where officials often publicly disagree.
The First Lady Aisha Buhari has spoken out about her husband before, suggesting in a 2016 BBC interview that his government had been hijacked. He responded by saying his wife belonged in the kitchen.
Aisha Buhari's plea
President Buhari's spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement that the "minor" incident happened outside the main residence and that the president was not in any form of danger "arising, either from deadly infections or the reported incident by security personnel which is currently under investigation".
"That a minor occurrence is being used by some critics to justify attacks on the government and the person of President Muhammadu Buhari beggars belief," Mr Shehu added.
In a series of tweets, Mrs Buhari said she wanted authorities to make sure that anyone who had been travelling across states to go into 14-day quarantine - a reference to her husband's aide making a trip outside the capital, Abuja.
She then called upon the Inspector General of Police to release her staff "in order to avoid putting their lives in danger or exposure to Covid-19 while in their custody".
As part of the restrictions to try and contain coronavirus, Nigerians are banned from travelling outside their state.
There are 16,085 recorded cases of coronavirus in Nigeria and 420 confirmed deaths.
BBC
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