Chief Executive Officer of indigenous airline, Arik Air, Capt. Roy Ilegbodu, has urged the Federal Government to prioritise aviation workers as Nigeria is set to begin vaccination against the lethal coronavirus infection.

The airline boss spoke on Wednesday when he met travel and tourism expert, Ikechi Uko, in his office in Ikeja, Lagos. Uko was at the Head Office of Arik Air in Ikeja to invite the airline for his Annual Abuja Jabamah Travel Event which is slated to hold on March 27 in Abuja.

The PUNCH had earlier reported that Nigeria on Tuesday received nearly four million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, shipped via the COVAX Facility, a partnership between CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF and WHO.

Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, had enjoined Nigerians who wish to receive the vaccines to register on the website of the NPHCDA, adding that over 2.3 million Nigerians have registered in the past few hours.

Shuaib had also said frontline health workers, amongst others would be prioritised in the vaccination.

Speaking on Wednesday, the Arik Air boss said aviation workers are frontline workers and giving them priority in the Covid vaccination will help keep the economy running and enable more people to travel safely

Ilegbodu said, “Aviation workers should get priority for vaccination. In Arik, we are trying to see if we can get all our staff vaccinated as soon as possible. This will allow us to serve the public confidently, as we are frontline staff who deal with the public everyday.”