Canada denied landing rights to Nigeria's evacuation flight.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, on Thursday said that Canada denied Nigerian carrier landing rights for a scheduled evacuation of Nigerians.

The minister, however, said that further diplomatic negotiations were ongoing on the matter.

Onyeama confirmed the development during the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID- 19 in Abuja.

“It is true the Canadian Government denied landing rights to a Nigerian carrier scheduled for an evacuation duty, on grounds that the airline does not have a licence to undertake commercial flights to Canada.

“Our high commission is engaging with Canadian Government on this issue,” he said.

The minister said that Nigeria’s high commissioner to Canada was arguing that the airline was not a regular commercial flight but  an emergency evacuation flight.

“Negotiations are ongoing with the Canadian Government,” he said.

Supreme will share details on this development as they unfold.