The number of air passengers processed by the airport managers at the Murtala Mohammad Airport Ikeja dropped from 3.5 million in the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, which was before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, to 1.06 million in Q1 2021. This is a drop of 2.5 million passengers, which represents a decrease of 70%.

This was disclosed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Thursday.

The airport manager revealed that between January and March 2021, a total number of 739,560 passengers was recorded for domestic flights and 323,751 for international flights.

Highlights of Q1 2021 figures

• A total of 149,557 passengers arrived, while 174,194 passengers departed through the international wing of the airport during the period, bringing the total passenger traffic to 323,751.
• At the domestic wing, 402,519 passengers arrived the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1, also known as the GAT.
• Departure recorded 337,041, bringing the total number of passengers on the domestic routes to 739,560 between January and March.
• A total of number 17, 286 aircraft was recorded at the airport during the first quarter of the year with records showing 12,744 domestic aircraft movements, while international aircraft movement was 4,542.

What FAAN is saying

But Airport Manager, South West, Victoria Shin-Aba, stated that there was no significant drop as Lagos remained the business nerve centre of the country since most flights terminate at the airport.

She said, “It is like a gradual reawakening, a gradual restart away from the Covid issue; there came the second wave but that did not discourage people from travelling. So it is growing gradually.

If there is one thing the airport has been able to do, as soon as you get into the airport environment this Covid protocol is activated. You can get to town everywhere, you don’t see people obeying it, but as soon as you get to the airport, we enforce it. People would not want to cooperate, but we are enforcing it… for staff and passengers, people are cooperating.

The disadvantage of covid that is what affects us the most. It has affected our income as an organization, airlines are not coming back due to the pandemic, people are not travelling as they used to.”

What you should know

At the end of Q1 2019, Nairametrics reported that the monthly breakdown showed that 1.42 million passengers comprising 789,883 arrivals and 633,069 departures in 18,653 aircraft movements were recorded in the month of January.

However, the traffic dropped in February, as 976,112 passengers comprising 462,447 arrivals and 513,665 departures were recorded. Note that the drop in air passengers traffic in February may be due to the 2019 general elections. In March 2019, the statistics rose as a total number of 1.11 million passengers, comprising 556,297 arrivals and 554,220 departures, was recorded.

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increases as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 164,207 confirmed cases.

On the 17th of April 2021, 60 new confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria.

To date, 164,207 cases have been confirmed, 154,325 cases have been discharged and 2061 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

A total of 1.84 million tests have been carried out as of April 17th, 2021 compared to 1.81 million tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 17th April 2021,

• Total Number of Cases – 164,207
• Total Number Discharged – 154,325
• Total Deaths – 2,061
• Total Tests Carried out – 1,838,174

According to the NCDC, the 60 new cases are reported from 9 states- Lagos (22), Rivers (15), Bayelsa (7), Kaduna (5), Ogun (4), Akwa Ibom (3), Osun (2), Kano (1) and Ebonyi (1).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 58,110, followed by Abuja (19,756), Plateau (9,035), Kaduna (9,014), Rivers (7,060), Oyo (6,839), Edo (4,897), Ogun (4,639), Kano (3,942), Ondo (3,226), Kwara (3,120), Delta (2,617), Osun (2,572), Nasarawa (2,380), Enugu (2,281), Katsina (2,097), Gombe (2,034), Ebonyi (2,020), Anambra (1,909), Akwa Ibom (1,843), and Abia (1,683).

Imo State has recorded 1,655 cases, Bauchi (1,540), Borno (1,337), Benue (1,188), Adamawa (1,063), Niger (930), Taraba (910), Bayelsa (885), Ekiti (869), Sokoto (775), Jigawa (527), Kebbi (450), Cross River (394), Yobe (365), Zamfara (240), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

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Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.

On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State announced the closed down of the Eti-Osa Isolation Centre, with effect from Friday, 31st July 2020. He also mentioned that the Agidingbi Isolation Centre would also be closed and the patients relocated to a large capacity centre.

Due to the increased number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria, the Nigerian government ordered the reopening of Isolation and treatment centres in the country on Thursday, 10th December 2020.

On 26th January 2021, the Federal Government announced the extension of the guidelines of phase 3 of the eased lockdown by one month following the rising cases of the coronavirus disease in the country and the expiration of phase 3 of the eased lockdown.

On 28th February 2021, the federal government confirmed that the first tranche of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021.

On Tuesday, 2nd March 2021, the National Primary health Care Development Agency announced the arrival of the expected COVX Astrazeneca/Oxford covid-19 vaccines.

On Saturday, 6th March 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo received vaccination against the covid-19 as the State House in Abuja.

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