By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, UAE, have been at loggerheads for a while now. From Visa issues to flight restrictions, both countries have not had the best of diplomatic relationship, especially in the covid-19 era. Nigerians in their numbers are currently stranded in the UAE. Some are unable to renew expired visas and working permit, while others are unable to connect a flight back home, as the row between the two countries tug on.
Obviously tired and frustrated from the exploitation of the UAE and its national carrier, Emirates Airlines, the Nigerian Government on Thursday, December 9, in a reciprocal move, cut down the daily flights of Emirates Airlines into Nigeria to just one per week. The one flight will be only on Thursdays, and will land only at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The move was triggered by the UAE’s decision to cut the flight operation of Nigeria’s only carrier into the Arab country, Air Peace, to once per week. While the UAE cut Nigerian flights to one per week, it enjoyed flying into Nigeria 21 times a week (3 flights per day).
On why it cut down the daily flights of Emirates Airlines to just one per week, the Nigerian Government explained that the move was in response to the earlier directives of the UAE Government cutting down Nigerian flights as well. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, announced the decision of the Nigerian Government in a letter titled: “Withdrawal of Ministerial Approval of Emirates Airlines Winter Schedule, dated December 9, 2021 and addressed to the Country Manager, Emirates Airlines Nigeria.”
“I wish to inform you of the withdrawal of the approval granted to Emirates Airlines winter schedule. This approval was conveyed via a letter with reference number FMA/ATMD/501/C.104/XV/536 dated 1st December 2021 at 2300Z.
“Please, kindly note, henceforth Emirates Airlines is granted approval to operate only one weekly passenger frequency to Abuja on Thursdays. Please be guided accordingly,” the letter signed by the Director-General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu read.
Before the commencement of the diplomatic spat between both countries, Emirates Airlines on December 5, operated flights to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to kick off its return to daily flights to the two Nigerian cities.
A letter addressed to Air Peace on the matter stated: “Greetings from Sharjah Airport. This has reference to your earlier request that we have received from your side to resume scheduled operations into Sharjah Airport for the winter season W21/22.
“Kindly note that the proposed timings were coordinated with the various stakeholders at Sharjah Airport, despite the terminal congestion and various challenges that will be faced, and with the best intentions we kept in mind our long business relationship we enjoy with Air Peace.
“As such we are pleased to propose the following timings: Once weekly flight every Thursday (day 4) with arrival time at Sharjah to be STA 01:00 UTC, and departure time from Sharjah will be STD 05:00 UTC. We will be looking closely in the near future for any potential opportunities for Air Peace for the upcoming summer season S22”.
UAE’s Response
Angered by the move of the Nigerian Government, the UAE again on Saturday, December 11, announced a total suspension of Nigerian flights into its country “until further notice”. This move has now formed a talking point on the unending diplomatic row between Nigeria and the UAE. In the coming weeks, Nigerians would be poised to see further reactions from the Nigerian Government. Many Nigerians who had planned shopping in Dubai for the Yuletide, including those who have already travelled to do so, will remain in limbo till further notice.
Emirates Airline in a statement, acknowledged that its decision was in reciprocity to the recent directive limiting its operation in Nigeria to one flight per week. “With the recently imposed directive limiting Emirates to operate one flight per week to Nigeria via Abuja, Emirates will be suspending its flights between Nigeria and Dubai from 13 December 2021, until the UAE and Nigerian authorities work on a solution to the ongoing issue.
“The last flights to operate on 12 December 2021are EK 783/784 to/from Lagos and EK 785/786 to/from Abuja.
“Customers holding tickets with the final destinations Lagos and Abuja will not be accepted at the point of origin,” it said.
The airline also said that affected customers do not need to call Emirates immediately for rebooking, adding that customers can simply hold on to their Emirates ticket and when flights resume, get in touch with their travel agent or booking office to make new travel plans and expressed regrets what this may have caused its customers in Nigeria.
“Emirates is committed to its operations in Nigeria, and we stand ready to reinstate services once restrictions are lifted by the Nigerian authorities, ensuring travellers have more choice and access to trade and tourism opportunities in Dubai, and beyond to our network of over 120 destinations,” the airline added.
Principle Of Reciprocity In BASA
The principle of reciprocity in simple terms, involves permitting the application of the legal effects of specific relationships in law when these same effects are accepted equally by foreign countries. In international law, reciprocity means the right to equality and mutual respect between states. According to Wikipedia, in international relations and treaties, the principle of reciprocity states that favours, benefits, or penalties that are granted by one state to the citizens or legal entities of another, should be returned in kind and same measure. Reciprocity has been used in the reduction of tariffs, the grant of copyrights to foreign authors, the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments, and the relaxation of travel restrictions and visa requirements.
The Nigerian Government in 2018 announced that it had signed a Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with five countries: Algeria, Congo, China, Qatar and Singapore. In the principle of reciprocity in the BASA deal, it is expected that airlines of the countries signatory to each other would operate at equal frequencies within their territories. But in a situation whereby airline of one country operates more frequencies than the other, there is usually monetary compensation, depending on the agreement.
However, the worry is that given previous experiences in the aviation industry, there is no guarantee that the agreement would be beneficial to Nigeria. This is mainly because Nigeria does not have major airlines that operate international services. It only has huge passenger traffic to international destinations estimated at over five million per annum. This large numbers are usually airlifted by international carriers. Except for Air Peace that conducts scanty international flights, Nigeria does not have a national carrier that can negotiate commercial service agreement whenever the need arises.
Thus, foreign airlines have mostly ran away with exploitative commercial arrangements against Nigeria and Nigerians. The UAE case is a perfect example. This explains why many Nigerian policies on international air transport service seem to favour foreign airlines over the country. Rushing to sign BASA had been the topmost agenda of Aviation Ministers, past and present, instead of pushing for a working national carrier. Over 60 of such agreements have been signed to date. But the question that has remained unattended to, is whether there are benefits of such agreements to a country that does not have strong airlines that can effectively compete with that of its partner nations.
Aviation experts have quizzed whether Nigeria has the competitive advantage, industry and political will to fully implement reciprocity principle in BASA. The experts have lamented that most air agreements between Nigeria and other countries have been one-sided. According to them, Nigerian airlines have been unable to reciprocate the agreements.
Nigerian Government Swinging Into More Action
After its earlier ban on Emirates Airline, the Nigerian Government in a second decisive move, turned it hammer on UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia. Aviation minister announced on Sunday that it would reciprocate the travel ban placed on Nigeria over the new covid-19 variant, Omicron. The UK had imposed travel restrictions on Nigeria, claiming that 21 cases of Omicron recorded in England were linked to travellers from Nigeria.
But the travel ban was trailed by global outrage, with some national and international stakeholders describing it as racist and discriminatory.
Saudi Arabia had also imposed a temporary ban on flights from Nigeria over the increasing number of omicron variant cases. On its part, Canada also banned travels from Nigeria and nine other African countries over omicron variant concerns.
Reciprocating, Sirika said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration would also place the United Kingdom, Canada and Saudi Arabia on a red list over the outbreak and spread of the Omicron variant, citing that countries which placed Nigeria on a red list lacked a moral right to have their airlines fly into Nigeria on commercial operations.
“There is also the case of Saudi Arabia that put Nigeria on the ban list. On Sunday, I participated in a meeting with the COVID-19 task force.
“We have given our input that it is not acceptable by us and we recommended that those Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia and Argentina also be put on the red list.
“As they did to us, if they do not allow our citizens into their countries; who are they coming, as airlines, to pick from our country?
“They are not supposed to come in. I am very sure in the next three days; Monday or Tuesday, all those countries will be put on the red list of COVID-19,’’ the minister said.
While apologising to Nigerians intending to travel to those countries, he said Nigerian government’s decision was in the interest of the country, stressing that airlines of the affected countries remained banned and the countries placed on Nigeria’s red list
COVID-19-Prompted Lockdowns
In the heat of the covid-19 pandemic, some countries shut their air borders to Nigerian carriers. The Nigerian Government in reaction, threatened to invoke the reciprocity clause in its BASA with those countries. It subsequently invoked the principle of reciprocity on some countries which shut their air spaces to Nigerian carriers during the pandemic. The Nigerian Government barred Air France, KLM, Etihad, RwandAir, Lufthansa, TAAG Angola Airlines, Air Namibia, , Royal Air Maroc, South African Airlines and Cape Verde Airlines from flying into Nigeria.
Why Nigeria Must Take Advantage Of BASA
While Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has assured that many of the BASAs had been reviewed to create opportunities for the nation’s domestic carriers, Nigeria currently has around 30 foreign airlines operating flights into the country. Sadly, only one Nigerian airline, Air Peace, operates internationally. One or two others, including Overland Airways and Arik Air, operate on regional routes. While carriers from other countries leverage on BASA to obtain landing permits and operate multiple frequencies in Nigeria, Nigerian carriers have continued to be denied landing permits to fly into other countries.
A commendable move was made by the aviation minister recently, announcing that only countries that allow Nigerian airlines fly into their countries will be granted permits for their airlines to fly into Nigeria.
As lockdowns eased up, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, commended the Nigerian Government’s decision to enforce the principle of reciprocity in granting permission to airlines to resume operations in the country. He said the decision would elevate the image of Nigeria in the committee of nations and send signals to international airlines that it is no longer business as usual.
The Air Peace boss in a letter to the aviation minister, said: “You are causing a positive revolution in the aviation world. You have, by this action, brought so much respect to our people and our nation.
“Nigerians all over the world are walking tall with enormous pride since the news broke. This is the beginning of the end of the stigmatisation of Nigeria and everything Nigerian”. Onyema said the Nigerian Government needed to raise the stakes by reviewing the dual designation and multiple entry policies, noting that this has the potential to destroy aviation.
More Exploitations Of Nigerians
At one time, the United Kingdom airport authorities stopped Arik Air’s operation to London from Abuja, using slot allocation, which was not contained in the BASA between Nigeria and the United Kingdom. When Arik could no longer pay the high charges, it stopped the Abuja-London flights. The two UK carriers which were Virgin Atlantic and BA. They had a swell time operating the lucrative Nigerian routes without competition from indigenous carriers. They jerked up fares at will to fly from Nigeria to London.
Back here in Africa, the management of the airport in Abidjan, Code’Ivoire, at a time, introduced very high charges to stop Air Peace from operating into the country, while Air Code’Ivoire had received approval, and had been flying into Nigeria without difficulties, and at very low charges.
Before the Nigerian Government suspended Emirates flights in February this year, the airline was operating two flights to Lagos daily and one flight a day to Abuja, which made it 21 weekly flights to Nigeria. Meanwhile, Air Peace had stopped flying to the city when it became clear that its passengers would be made to conduct about three covid-19 tests on arrival in the UAE at their own expense, thus making the flights very expensive for its passengers.
Consequently, after the UAE removed the Rapid Antigen Test for Nigerian travellers, the Nigerian Government lifted the ban on the airline. Sources in the NCAA disclosed that the UAE might not want Air Peace to operate to Dubai, while Emirates had already scheduled to resume flights to Nigeria on December 5. The NCAA source hinted that its DG had withdrawn from the first meeting that was to be held between Nigeria and UAE over the resumption of flights to both countries, when he learnt that Air Peace was not invited for that meeting. The meeting was however rescheduled and the Nigerian carrier was in attendance. In tandem with the policy of reciprocity of the Nigerian Government, the NCAA had resisted all attempts to marginalise the Nigerian carrier by denying it a slot to operate to UAE, a policy that was lacking in the past, and has led to the short-changing of Nigerian carriers.
