Why Nigerians stranded in Canada may not be evacuated any time soon
The evacuation plan for the repatriation of Nigerians who are stranded in Canada due to the global lockdown on international flights may not be happening as scheduled after the Canadian authorities denied Nigeria landing rights. The Air Peace special flight APK 8711 which was meant to carry out the assignment was denied overflight and landing permit because it does not have a license for commercial flights to Canada.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Godfrey Onyeama during the Presidential Task Force briefing explained that the evacuation will be delayed while the Nigerian Mission in Canada works out a solution to the problem.
“It is true the Canadian government denied landing rights to a Nigerian carrier scheduled for evacuation duty on grounds that the airline does not have a license to undertake commercial flights to Canada.
“Our High Commission is engaging with Canadian government on this issue. The argument our High Commissioner is making is that this is not a regular commercial flight, but instead an emergency evacuation flight. So negotiations are ongoing with the Canadian government,” he said.
The High Commission on its part announced that it is awaiting information from Canadian authorities concerning the permit and that a new date for the evacuation will be communicated as soon as clearance is obtained.
The Federal government began the evacuation of stranded Nigerians who got caught up in the international travel restrictions imposed on many countries to contain the spread of COVID-19. The first batch of 256 returnees from the UAE arrived in the country on Thursday, May, 7 with those from Canada expected to have been evacuated this week.
