NIGERIAN Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has ordered all airlines operating International and Regional flights into Nigeria to ensure they issue Health Declaration Forms to their passengers including crew members before arriving Nigerian airports or face severe sanctions.
The CAA gave this order following failure of some airlines operating International and Regional flights into Nigeria to provide Health Declaration Forms (Passengers self-reporting forms).
A letter to this effect has been issued to all airlines and other stakeholders.
In view of the above, Airlines are to remind passengers to provide factual address and phone numbers to enhance contact tracing in case there is need to do so.
The Health Declaration forms (Passenger self-reporting forms) will be collected and evaluated by the personnel of Port Health Services on the arrival of the passengers and crew members alike.
Airlines are to collect the Health Declaration forms (Passenger self-reporting forms) from the Port Health Services at the various International Airports of the country.
Failure to comply with the directive by any airline will attract severe sanctions.
A source close to the airport authority confided in Nigerianflightdeck that most of the inbound airlines refuse to issue these forms to their passengers and this causes serious melee at the airports.
She explained to our correspondent that the airlines would not give passengers this form and in turn those will pass the bulk and make the terminals unbearable especially at this time of a major virus outbreak.
” To be truthful, this makes the terminal crowded and makes it difficult to co-ordinate all the activities. Now, Port Health Officers will have an extra responsibility of identifying those without the forms and those who filled wrongly and ensure they do it before they are screened and allowed through, this causes extra challenges,” she said.