Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, has explained the
reason the plan to evacuate Nigerians from Canada has been
delayed.
An Air Peace flight was scheduled to evacuate 200 Nigerians from
Canada on Thursday, but in a statement on Wednesday, the airline
said the the flight had been cancelled.
“The management of Air Peace wishes to announce that its
evacuation flight to Canada previously scheduled for May 14, 2020,
has been postponed due to logistics issues as communicated to the
airline by the Nigerian High Commission in Canada,” the statement
by Air Peace read.
“Once the issues are resolved with the Canadian authorities and
a new date is issued by the High Commission, we shall duly
communicate same to the public.”
Clarifying the postponement of the flight on Thursday, Onyeama,
said the airline was denied landing rights by the Canadian
authorities.
“This is the case indeed that the Canadian government denied
landing rights on the grounds that this particular Nigerian carrier
did not have licence to undertake commercial flights to that
country and was not known to that country for commercial flights,”
he said.
“Our high commissioner in Canada is engaging with the Canadian
government on this issue and we’re hopeful that we can have the
decision reversed.
“The argument that he’s putting forward, which is a strong
argument, is that this is not a regular commercial flight to Canada
to take passengers, but that this is an emergency flight and that
there is a difference between the two. So, the negotiations are
ongoing and we are hopeful that there will be a positive
result.”
Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, has explained the
reason the plan to evacuate Nigerians from Canada has been
delayed.
An Air Peace flight was scheduled to evacuate 200 Nigerians from
Canada on Thursday, but in a statement on Wednesday, the airline
said the the flight had been cancelled.
“The management of Air Peace wishes to announce that its
evacuation flight to Canada previously scheduled for May 14, 2020,
has been postponed due to logistics issues as communicated to the
airline by the Nigerian High Commission in Canada,” the statement
by Air Peace read.
“Once the issues are resolved with the Canadian authorities and
a new date is issued by the High Commission, we shall duly
communicate same to the public.”
Clarifying the postponement of the flight on Thursday, Onyeama,
said the airline was denied landing rights by the Canadian
authorities.
“This is the case indeed that the Canadian government denied
landing rights on the grounds that this particular Nigerian carrier
did not have licence to undertake commercial flights to that
country and was not known to that country for commercial flights,”
he said.
“Our high commissioner in Canada is engaging with the Canadian
government on this issue and we’re hopeful that we can have the
decision reversed.
“The argument that he’s putting forward, which is a strong
argument, is that this is not a regular commercial flight to Canada
to take passengers, but that this is an emergency flight and that
there is a difference between the two. So, the negotiations are
ongoing and we are hopeful that there will be a positive
result.”