Anthony Iwuoma
Canada has refused Nigerian airline landing rights to evacuate Nigerians in that country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama said.
The minister, who made the revelation during the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID- 19 in Abuja, however, assured that further diplomatic negotiations were ongoing to resolve the matter.
Onyeama said: “It is true the Canadian Government denied landing rights to a Nigerian carrier scheduled for an evacuation duty, on grounds that the airline does not have a licence to undertake commercial flights to Canada'”
According to the minister, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada was arguing that the airline was not a regular commercial flight but an emergency evacuation flight.
“Negotiations are ongoing with the Canadian Government,” he added..
