The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, has explained the closure of three international airports.
They are Kano International Airport, Kano, Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, and the Port Harcourt International Airport in Rivers State.
Sirika said it was part of measures to contain coronavirus.
He spoke to State House correspondents on Friday at the Presidential Villa, after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The wisdom in closing the three airports is that we try to minimise entry points because these things are imported; so we try to minimize the entry points by closing down Kano, Port Harcourt and Akanu Ibiam and then restricting Lagos to remove those 15 countries.’’
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Sirika added that only travelers from countries that had less than 1000 cases would be allowed into Nigeria for now.
He said the Ministry of Health and the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 was tracking all those that had entered Nigeria from the affected countries.
The minister said that Lagos and Abuja airports as well as other airports in Nigeria would also be closed when the need arose.
“This is my individual perception, at some point, these airports must be closed; this is my opinion, but like I said there is a Presidential Taskforce on CONVID-19 to which I am a member; but certainly and definitely, at some point, these airports, all of them in Nigeria will be closed”, he said.
