International passengers without e-yellow card will be denied boarding

The Federal Government through the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) has directed all airlines operating International and regional flights to commence the implementation of the use of the Yellow card as a requirement for travel.

In a letter to the affected airlines signed by Wilfred Haggai, the general manager, Aeromedical Standards, on behalf of the Director-General, NCAA stated that this is coming on the heels of the review of the operationalization of Nigeria’s point of entry policy on the prevention and control of cross-border transmission of yellow fever.

According to the letter, the review of the policy has arisen because of the compelling priority of the ongoing entry screening at points of entry by point health services for covid19.

“The entry screening of passengers due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak will be prioritised by the port health services until the outbreak has been effectively contained.”

To this end passengers coming into the country without documented proof of vaccination against yellow fever and new valid e-yellow card be allowed to board and for passengers departing Nigeria, a valid yellow card will be required for boarding.

The NCAA has therefore called on all airlines to communicate the policy to their passengers. The policy review took effect on 11th March 2020.

” All passengers coming to Nigeria who do not have a yellow card are to be allowed to board. When they arrive in Nigeria the Port Health Services will determine whether they require vaccination for Yellow fever or not.”

The Yellow Fever card also called the International Health Certificate, is an important document which is given to a person after getting a vaccine against Yellow Fever.

In a related development, the Nigeria Immigration Service at the Lagos International airport has commenced the enforcement of the yellow card directive, as passengers without the card are turned back at the immigration counter if it is not part of the document requested.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.