Nigeria has suspended Gambia Bird, the
Gambian national airline from flying into the
country, alleging “unsatisfactory” measures by
the airline to contain the spread of Ebola virus,
officials said on Sunday.
The “NCAA
(Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority) has reviewed
the measures put in place by your airline as
contained in your letter of 30th July, 2014 and
have found these measures unsatisfactory,”
NCAA said in a letter to Gambia Bird Airlines.
“Consequently, your flights into Nigeria have
been temporarily suspended with immediate
effect until such a time that you are able to put
in place acceptable and satisfactory measures,”
said the letter, a copy of which was sent to AFP.
The contents of the airline’s letter to the NCAA
were not disclosed.
NCAA is the government agency that serves as
watchdog for all airlines operating in the
country.
The Gambian national carrier flies to Lagos
twice weekly. It also flies to other African
countries in the region: Cameroon, Ghana,
Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Senegal.
NCAA said that part of its efforts to curb the
spread of the virus was to to direct all airlines
operating into Nigeria from Guinea, Freetown
and Monrovia “to put in place adequate
measures to ensure that passengers with this
disease are not boarded and brought into the
country.”
“Such measures may include suspension of
flights into these countries,” NCAA added.
An American Liberian who arrived Lagos from
Monrovia, capital of Liberia, via Lome (Togo),
eventually died of Ebola virus in a Lagos
hospital last July 25.
A Nigerian nurse who had contact with the
Liberian also died last week while seven others
have been confirmed to have the virus in Lagos.
Nigeria along with Guinea, Sierra Leone and
Liberia are the hardest hit countries by the
epidemic, which the WHO has called the worst
in four decades. Nearly 1,000 people have died
of the virus in these four countries, WHO said.
Nigeria’s president on Friday declared a
national emergency over the deadly Ebola virus.
[AFP]

http://www.informationng.com/2014/08/nigeria-suspends-gambian-national-airline-over-ebola.html

They started it first. Tit for tat.

Okay, Coming too late. Better late than never anyway