Tag Archive for: Nigeria

Andrew Stegmann
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Nigeria Places Travel Restrictions on South Africans to Curb New COVID Variant

Passengers travelling from South Africa to Nigeria will be subject to strict regulations effective from Monday 28 December 2020. The latest travel restrictions follow the discovery of 501.V2, a mutation of Covid-19 which is more contagious than the original virus.

While several countries have announced outright travel bans prohibiting the entry of passengers departing, or transiting through, South Africa, Nigeria has opted for a monitored approach.

Passengers from the UK and South Africa will be allowed to enter Nigeria on the condition that they present two documents. Travellers will need to obtain a pre-departure permit to fly – in the form of a unique QR code – from the Nigeria International Travel Portal. Additionally, visitors are required to submit proof of a negative Covid-19 PCR test, obtained within 96 hours of the scheduled departure time.

Incoming passengers will be received and processed separately when disembarking from their flights. Nigeria’s Public Health Authority will oversee the arrival of passengers from both the UK and South Africa, with stringent isolated screening processes in place to prevent Covid-19 transmission within the confines of the airport.

Even with a negative Covid-19 test result, all passengers arriving from South Africa will be subjected to a mandatory seven-day quarantine period. Travellers will again be tested on the seventh day of self-isolation. A negative result will allow travellers to exit quarantine while a positive PCR test will require further isolation for a period prescribed by the Public Health Authority.

Incoming travellers will be monitored closely throughout their quarantine stay and have been urged to comply with all restrictions imposed by the Public Health Authority.

The government has also issued a stern warning to airlines which fail to follow protocols. Penalties include a fine of $3,500 (R51,000) for each defaulting passenger. Airlines may also be expected to return non-Nigerian defaulting passengers. Repeated non-compliance by any airline will lead to the suspension of the Airline`s Approval/Permit to fly into the country.

The announcement comes just days after the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that a new Covid-19 variant had been discovered in Nigeria. “It’s a separate lineage from the UK and the South African lineages,” said John Nkengasong, director of the African CDC.

Nkengasong added that it was still too early to tell if the new variant discovered in Nigeria was more contagious.

 

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Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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Air Peace launches Lagos to Johannesburg Flights

Nigeria’s Air Peace began Lagos to Johannesburg flights on 17 December 2020, using its sole B777-200ER.

The 4,511-kilometre route currently has no direct competition and is operated twice-weekly with an elapsed time of six hours in both directions.

It leaves Lagos at 0100, arrives Johannesburg at 0800, departs at 1100, and arrives back at 1600.

South African Airways has operated the route for years on which the airline had over 232,000 seats – its most – in 2014. It’ll resume the route on a daily basis from 1 February 2021.

Arik Air operated it until 2017 and depending on the year it variously used B737-800s, A330-200s, and A340-500s.

Virgin Nigeria operated it briefly in 2012 using A330-200s.

At its peak in 2014, Lagos – Johannesburg had over 462,000 seats, but this diminished to just 179,000 in 2019.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann
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Nigeria to Immediately Reopen Four Land Border Crossing Points

Nigeria will reopen four border crossing points immediately, more than a year after closing its land frontiers to crack down on smuggling, the government said on Wednesday.

Nigeria closed its land borders last year to curb smuggling of rice and arms, which it says threatens efforts to boost local production and security, and to generate state revenues through import duties.

The government at a cabinet meeting approved the reopening of Seme border to the South West, Illela and Maigatari border in the North West and Mfun in the South. The others will be reopened on December 31.

It kept restrictions on rice import and some other products.

Last month, the government ratified its membership of the African free-trade zone due to be launched in January, after initial reluctance to join the bloc for fear of exposing local industries to dumping by countries outside Africa.

Discussions to reopen Nigeria’s borders closed to the movement of goods have been going on for months. Nigeria has insisted on levying duties on goods transiting its country through neighbouring nations to curb smuggling.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].

Andrew Stegmann
,

First Woman Construction Management Professor Named in South Africa and Nigeria

When Abimbola Windapo graduated from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1987, she was the first woman to study building in Nigeria.
Now, with her promotion to full professorship at the University of Cape Town (UCT), the academic and builder is also the first Nigerian woman professor of construction management, and the first in South Africa.

Beginning her career as a planning engineer for Bouygues Nigeria Ltd, Windapo worked on numerous high-profile projects, completed a Master’s in Construction Management at the University of Lagos, and qualified for the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria.

In 1996 she left Bouygues and joined Lagos State Polytechnic, then the University of Lagos in 1998 where she finished her PhD in Building in 2005. During that time, she continued providing professional building services for the University of Lagos and was made Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Building in 2007.

Two years later, Windapo joined UCT while continuing to research and practice as a construction professional. She is credited with leading research on how small and medium-sized contractors can grow sustainably, a field she developed in response to high failure rates of construction companies in the South African industry.

“Before my research in this area, there was no previous recipe for sustainable contractor development, while the practices used by construction companies in ensuring health and safety were not established in the literature,” she said.

She has also been praised as an administrator in higher education for chairing the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment’s Transformation Committee from 2015 to 2017, a period of student protests across UCT campuses.

Windapo has said she was drawn to construction by a desire to help solve social problems such as unaffordable housing, overcrowding, inadequate infrastructure and service delivery and poor living environments.

“All human beings should have access to comfortable accommodation in a conducive environment,” she said.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].