This is coming a few days after the UAE lifted its
months-long visa ban on Nigerians.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus
Keyamo who disclosed this at the closing ceremony of the 7th African Aviation
Summit in Abuja on Thursday, emphasized that lifting of the ban, comes with
hopes of enhancing bilateral relations and boosting economic activities between
the two nations.
He noted that it is crucial for airlines operating between
Nigeria and the UAE to have reciprocal rights as per the Bilateral Air Services
Agreements, stressing the importance of balanced and fair treatment between the
two countries.
Furthermore, Keyamo reassured that actions are being taken
to ensure the repatriation of the funds of foreign airlines, addressing
concerns about trapped funds.
He said: “We are working the details out. When two countries
agree at the very top level then of course all the government operatives will
begin to work out the tiny details. So, we are beginning to work out all the
tiny details. I met with Emirate before I left UAE, I met with Etihad before I
left UAE and we are working out the details.
“The time frame, we cannot say the time frame. Kicking off
an airline operation again on a route, it is not that you will go and grab one
empty plane sitting in a place. There is no idle plane sitting anywhere, they
have to reschedule their flights, restart their routes again, and all kinds of
things.
“All kinds of permission will be taken from local
authorities and of course, I made the point in speaking with them and I made it
clear that they will have to give our airlines reciprocal rights under our
BASA. That is the point I insisted on, and they did say that any spot we need,
they will give us as much as we give them those spots within Nigeria.”
Speaking on the issue of trapped funds he said: “Mr
President is very concerned about that, in fact, it is one of the issues we
went to discuss in the UAE. I spoke with the minister of finance and the
coordinating minister of the economy and he has given an indication that within
the next few weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria will be very clear as to the
programme within which these issues will be addressed.
“They will be paid off, these are not loans, they are
trapped funds, they are funds that are there, it is only the issue of liquidity
that is our problem. The issues of liquidity are being addressed as I speak
right now. It is something that the president is very concerned about, and that
issue, I said that we have addressed it in the UAE and very soon, you will hear
from the financial sector,” the minister concluded.
In a related development, Nigeria and South Africa signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on air safety standards in a bid to enhance
the aviation sector’s efficiency and security in both nations.
Keyamo said the MoU emphasizes the shared commitment of both
countries to ensuring the highest level of safety in their aviation industries.
He said: “For the South African agreement, I also said that
it is an immediate deliverable for me under the indicator of ensuring
enforcement of the highest standards within our shores. South Africa is doing
92 per cent by ICAO, we are doing 70 per cent and so our agreement today is
that, we are signing an agreement with a bigger brother in terms of safety
standards in Africa and we are proud to do so because sharing intelligence with
them, it means that somebody is lifting us up somewhere.
“It is going to be a symbiotic relationship, there are areas
we are also going to assist them too in terms of safety standards, because we
also have our strong points within Nigeria. and that is what we did today.”
Simultaneously, Airpeace’s Chief Executive Officer, Allen
Onyema, made public the procurement of 10 Embraer E175 aircrafts and cemented a
maintenance agreement with the fleet company.
This implies that Embraer will provide support in
establishing a maintenance center within the country, enabling the maintenance
of the fleet to be conducted locally.
According to Onyema, the decision was based on the directive
given to him by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus
Keyamo, to drive the aviation sector forward while attracting investment
through the maintenance policy.
“In line with fleet modernization policy, we just signed a
further acquisition, further order of 10 E175, with a stern order of five and
five acquisition rights.
“The minister called me two weeks ago and said moving
forward, any Nigerian airline that wants to bring in brand-new planes must also
think of maintenance capabilities for those planes in-house and within Nigeria.
“He made it compulsory that if you are going into the
acquisition of more than 20 planes, you must show evidence that the original
equipment manufacturer is going to support the setting up of a maintenance
center here and for third parties here MOR. Now with the signature signed
today, we have ordered 35 Embraer brand-new fleets.
“We have signed 30 before, of which five have been delivered
already, the E2s. Part of the things we signed today is that Embraer is going
to help set up the maintenance center in Nigeria and it will be set up with
immediate effects. So, this decision will help our national reserves and help
conserve the forex of airlines in Africa when this comes to fruition”, he
added.
Confirming the maintenance deal, Embraer management said the
transaction is worth $ 300m while noting that delivery will begin in 2024.
Embraer said, “Ever since we started this relationship in
2017, it has been smooth and great, and today it’s a momentous day. This
transaction costs $ 300m, with the airline moving forward.
“The first two aircraft will be delivered next year. The
airline needs to grow. As the business moves forward, we need to work together,
and the maintenance will create jobs and drive investment. And we will move
forward with Air Peace to drive this growth”. -Vanguard
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