COVID-19: Atiku Warns Buhari Again, ‘Halt All Flights To And From UK’

To prevent Nigeria from partaking in the “new strain of COVID-19” currently ravaging London, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Muhammadu to immediately halt all flights going or coming from the United Kingdom.

This, Atiku said, was a necessary precaution to avoid a repeat of the Federal Government’s past mistake with the virus.

The former vice president recalled how he urged President Buhari to shut Nigeria’s borders before the country recorded its first COVID-19 case on February 27, 2020.

He said, “The reason Nigeria took a harder than necessary hit during the first wave of the #COVID19 virus is that the Federal Government failed to heed the warnings of well-meaning Nigerians, like myself and others, to shut down our borders once the virus became a pandemic.”

Atiku issued the caution in a Facebook post titled “An Ounce of Prevention Is Better Than a Pound of Cure” on Sunday.

He wrote, “Hindsight is 20/20. Nevertheless, we must learn from history, or we stand the risk of repeating it. The new strain of COVID19 that has erupted in the United Kingdom, and specifically, London, can add to Nigeria’s health emergency if we do not act with an abundance of caution and temporarily halt all flights to and from the UK until this new strain is brought under control.

“Already, prudent nations are taking prompt action, and Nigeria must take necessary precautions due to the volume of air traffic between Nigerian airports and London, where this new strain has erupted.

“We must face the reality that our health sector is not sufficiently prepared to handle a sudden and unpredictable surge of this pandemic. We have already lost lives needlessly. We need not lose more.

“In the case of this virus, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

THE WHISTLER reported earlier that British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had imposed another lockdown on London following a surge of COVID-19 cases in the British capital.

Already, the Nigerian Government has officially declared that the country was experiencing its second wave of the virus.

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, through its chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, made the declaration on Thursday.