Former vice-president Atiku Abubakar on Sunday urged the Nigerian government to ban flights from the United Kingdom over the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the country.

Atiku, who made the call on his Twitter handle, said the reason Nigeria was hit harder than necessary during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was because the government failed to heed the warnings of well-meaning Nigerians.

He urged the government to act with caution and temporarily halt all flights from the UK until this new strain of COVID-19 was brought under control.

He added that Nigeria’s health sector was not sufficiently prepared enough to handle a sudden and unpredictable surge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Atiku wrote: “The reason Nigeria took a harder than necessary hit during the first wave of the #COVID-19 virus was that the Federal Government failed to heed the warnings of well-meaning Nigerians, like myself and others, to shut down our borders once the virus became a pandemic.

“The new strain of COVID-19 that has erupted in the United Kingdom, and specifically, London, can add to Nigeria’s health emergency if we do not act with an abundance of caution and temporarily halt all flights to and from the UK until this new strain is brought under control.”