The Nation Newspaper

Tag: COVID

  • Global, regional airlines seek solutions to post-COVID travel challenges

    Global, regional airlines seek solutions to post-COVID travel challenges

    Top international and regional airlines, including Emirates, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Air Peace, and SABRE, have met in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to address challenges confronting the aviation sector in the post-COVID-19 era.

    The session, organised by Finchglow Travels under its PartnerPlus Connect (PPC) initiative, provided an interactive platform for airlines and trade partners to share insights on boosting travel demand.

    Stakeholders expressed concern over persistently low travel rates and rising ticket fares since the pandemic, noting that technological disruptions had also negatively affected travel patterns.

    Managing Director of Finchglow Travels, Mr. Ezekiel Ikotun, highlighted foreign exchange volatility as a major obstacle for the sector. He urged travel agents and customers to uphold professionalism in their operations.

    Ikotun added that the PPC, themed “Boosting Travel Demand, Airline and Consolidator Insights,” was designed to consolidate knowledge, strengthen airline–trade partner collaboration, and equip travel agencies with tools to thrive in a competitive environment.

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    He said, “Travellers’ buying strength has gone down due to so many factors, including Forex, when airlines’ funds were trapped, airlines had to increase the ticket fares, and that has affected the travel behaviours of our buyers.

    “2019 was the highest, when we look at the industry revenue, but as we speak, we are yet to reach that milestone, simply because of the forex challenge, at that time the exchange rate was below N300, it’s like N1500, but there has been a tremendous improvement, in the post COVID-19 when it has to do with travel, I am hopeful, I’m optimistic that by next year, we will meet the stage we were in pre-COVID-19 and then start to scale up.

    “So, because the origin and destination violation which was mentioned as Agency Debit Memo (ADM), was due to a high fare, and in a bit for some travel agencies to be able to beat the fare and get something relatively cheaper, they have to go as far as manipulating or being creative with the inventory, that was what gave birth to the violation, but when it comes to the demand, sincerely it’s still very low, though human movement can never be restricted, human being will love to travel, but as we speak, we know the economic situation of our country, even corporate travel has gone down.

    “With the arrival of technology, there are people who are supposed to travel abroad for training; right now, they will just do virtual. However, human movement is sacrosanct; there is nothing you can do about it, but the business is getting better.

    “Immediately after COVID-19, the recovery was very slow, but we have achieved a 92% recovery rate, as of 2025.

    Also speaking, Business to Business Manager at Finchglow, Abiola Bakare, and the head of operations, Ebiere Bekesuo, said the company introduced different fares for customers, such as humanitarian fares, diplomatic fares, and Marine fares, because they were using their position as a leading travel consolidator in Nigeria.

  • New Covid strain

    New Covid strain

    • The authorities must take necessary actions

    The devastating COVID-19 pandemic caused millions of deaths across the world. No continent was spared and the global lockdown impacted socio-political economies across nations. Somehow, many countries are still reeling from the effects of the 2020 Covid experience. Somehow, Covid variants seem to be rearing their lethal heads in many countries.  In particular, developing countries with poor healthcare systems should take this feared resurgence of the disease very seriously.

    Reports indicate that there is a new strain called XEC that is emerging and causing infections. It’s a subvariant of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron strain and is made up of combinations of two pre-existing COVID-19 subvariants (KP.3.3 and KS.1.1). This is very scary for a world still contending with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    We, therefore, commend the Federal Government for activating preventive measures concerning the new Covid strain. However, we know that measures do not implement themselves. Humans implement measures. So, we call for the activation of processes to ensure that the new Covid strain has no place in Nigeria.

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    This can only be achieved when all those in the relevant agencies work to prevent a repeat of the 2014 Ebola episode in which a Liberian carrier was able to beat airport health checks at a time the world was at a standstill due to the effects of the virus. He slipped into the country and only the vigilance and patriotism of Dr Stella Adadevoh at First Foundation Hospital, Lagos prevented what would have been a terrible national tragedy. The valiant doctor paid the supreme price to save Nigerians.

    With Covid, individual sacrifice might not be much of a saving grace. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. All the relevant agencies must double their efforts especially at this festive period when there are lots of inter-country and international travels. It is no news that Nigeria has some of the most porous borders in the world. Those who man the country’s borders must be extra vigilant at this time. 

    Even though no case of the new virus had been reported in the country, we know that there could be errors in reporting. Air-borne diseases can be tricky and as such, more checks and vigilance might be the saving grace. There is an urgent need for collaboration with global health institutions. This could involve but not limited to thorough personnel training to be able to detect and prevent certain diseases like the new Covid. Also, the health sector must be adequately funded to deal with the new challenges. 

    Inter-agency collaborations must be encouraged by the government. The Ministry of Interior must be alive to its responsibilities. The national borders are under its care and it is its duty, through the immigration department, to check immigration. It must make sure that manning of the various ports of entry –   whether road, air or sea – is well coordinated for tighter national security. Porous borders are a recipe for a health disaster.

    The government must invest in health infrastructure, including upgrading machines for screening various infectious diseases, not just for the new strain of Covid but to save the lives of health workers that the country invests in training.  Fighting dangerous diseases is a double-edged sword. Protecting the lives of caregivers is as important as protecting the people. Healthcare workers take long and financial commitment to train; so, unlike in 2020 when the country struggled with masks and oxygen tanks, all needed equipment must be acquired in readiness for action when needed.

    Diseases do not discriminate. It is in the interest of everyone that the government invests in the education and health sectors. There is an African proverb that says that a war that has a date does not consume the cripple. In essence, when the country takes necessary actions, no disease, no matter how lethal, can cause too much harm.

  • Nigeria better prepared to contain COVID-19, others – FG

    Nigeria better prepared to contain COVID-19, others – FG

    The director general of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Ifedayo Adetifa, said Nigeria has recorded appreciable capacity towards containment of pandemic diseases following the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) considering the state of the country’s health sector infrastructure before the pandemic.

    He said Nigeria is now better prepared to respond to public health challenges than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

    According to Adetifa, the level of policy and investments carried out since the last pandemic has resulted in 15% progress in Nigeria’s health security capabilities following the joint external evaluation, as defined by the International Health Regulations.

    Adetifa spoke in Abuja at the Stakeholders Forum on Raising Accountability for Health Security in Nigeria, organized by the Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON) where he stated that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) needed to focus their advocacy more on accountability and transparency on sub-national level governments on health security.

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    Other participants at the forum include the NCDC, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), the Budget Office of Nigeria, the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Health, and several CSOs.

    He said: “As a result of the investment in the health security space in the country, we are better prepared now to respond to public health challenges than we were

    “In 2017 when the joint external evaluation was done, an assessment of a country’s health security capabilities, especially as defined by the International Health Regulations, which we signed up to in 2017, our ready score as a result of that evaluation was 39%, which suggests that we have no capacity in the areas that are required.

    “Between 2017 and now and especially as a result of investments in the pandemic response we’ve moved from 39 to 54%, that’s a 15% increase so we are traveling in the right direction, but we have not got there yet.

    “So, as we continue to the ongoing investments, the ongoing efforts, and then the prioritization of interventions as a result of the gaps that were identified, we always depend on at what point in time outbreaks happen.

    “We will always be in a better place than we were in the previous time points”.

    On accountability and transparency in funds allocated to health security, the DG said all levels of government should be held accountable but CSOs should endeavour to beam their searchlight on the grassroots as well in tandem with the Federal government health agenda as encapsulated in its new health agenda for the country.

    HERFON’s Executive Director, Celestine Okorie, said the objective of the meeting is to proffer enduring solutions to issues of accountability and transparency which had become paramount when funds allocated to health security seemed not to be in alignment with results.