Travel Ban: Nigeria, UAE Diplomatic Row Escalates
The frosty diplomatic relations between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over travel restrictions escalated yesterday.
The UAE authorities directed airlines not to fly any passenger with Nigeria’s international passport into its airports, it was learnt.
But, the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 has assured Nigerians that the Federal Government was working assiduously to ensure that the flight restrictions were lifted in about a week.
The UAE’s latest directive, which appears to be a response to Nigeria’s decision to stop flights from the oil-rich Arab country, affects Nigerian passport holders across the globe. The ban may result into heavy losses to both countries as it may affect international trade between them.
It was learnt that UAE may go a step further in tightening the noose by introducing stringent rules for visa applications for Nigerians desirous of visiting Dubai for medicals, tourism, and business.
Aviation sources also linked the order not to fly Nigerians to the reduction of Emirates weekly flights into the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos from 21 to only one.
Emirates is UAE’s national carrier.
The Middle East country had earlier denied the Nigerian flag carrier airline – Air Peace- from operating to Sharjah, near Dubai, three times a week.
The Arab country had last week joined the United Kingdom(UK), Canada, and Argentina in putting Nigeria on the red lists of countries with positive cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19. With the addition, all flights from Nigeria into the four countries were banned.
The Federal Government, which had asked the countries to rescind the ban on Sunday, announced that it would also bar flights from their airports as from today. But yesterday, Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika said the government had decided to wait till next week to see if the four countries would lift the ban or not.
Sources said airlines like Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Air, and other international carriers connecting transit flights from their headquarters/hubs into Dubai are already refusing to board Nigerians.
Ethiopian Airlines yesterday declined to fly Nigerian passengers to Dubai, according to sources.
A travel agent, who spoke on the development at the MMIA, said the passengers were shocked when told that the UAE had instructed airlines not to pick passengers from Nigeria through their hubs. Read more
Omicron: UK To Lift Travel Ban On Nigeria, Others
* Nigerian passengers eye Lome, Ghana as escape routes
The United Kingdom Government may have bowed to pressures to rescind the controversial red list under which it banned flights to Nigeria and nine other African countries following the outbreak of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 in South Africa.
According to the Mail, the red list is to be scrapped after just a fortnight after it was introduced. The move is expected to be approved this week, the Mail reported on Sunday, apparently due to intense pressures by Nigerian travelers even as the Nigerian Government threatened to impose retaliatory measures against the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and others that have slammed flight bans on Nigerian travelers.
UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was said to have convinced his colleagues the red list should be replaced with testing for the fully vaccinated.
The red list met with protests from officials in Nigeria and other affected African countries as travellers in quarantine complained of six-hour journeys to hotel and “grim” food
The emergence of Omicron forced thousands of travellers into hotel quarantine at a cost of £2,285 per person for 10 days.
However, the Head of the Communications Unit of the British High Commission in Abuja, Dean Hurlock, who reacted to a message sent to him, may have dismissed the reported decision to lift the travel ban on Nigeria.
He told LEADERSHIP yesterday that “we have no official reaction. We routinely don’t comment on speculation. Our official position remains as stated in our recently issued press release”, he said.
The earlier press statement said “Nigeria to be added to the travel red list from 4am Monday 6 December following 21 cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 reported in England which were linked to travel from Nigeria.
“These are temporary measures that have been introduced to prevent further Omicron cases from entering the UK, and will be examined at the three-week review point on 20 December.”
UK government added Nigeria to the travel red list from Monday December 6 and people travelling to UK from any country will need to take pre-departure test from 7 December.
Other countries on UK red list are: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Nigerian Government then on Sunday, December 12, threatened to retaliate over the travel restrictions on its citizens by banning flights from the United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina, following their decisions to include Nigeria on the red list.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who disclosed this in a leaked audio, revealed that the ban on the four countries would be announced today by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19.
“The sovereignty of 200 million people is too important for us to toy with,” the minister said in the audio which recently went viral.
Sirika said further “Also, there is a case of Saudi Arabia, which put Nigeria on the banned list – no visa, no travel, et cetra so, also Canada. So, today, there was a meeting, I participated in a zoom meeting, COVID-19 task force, just for your information also.
“We have given our input in aviation, it is not acceptable by us and we recommend that those countries – Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina be also put on red list, as they did similarly to us. Read more
FG Puts Retaliation on Hold As Row With UAE Gets Messier
Govt: We are initiating diplomatic steps to resolve restrictions with UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia
• UK to reduce travel restrictions, scrap red list this week
• Consider the impact of reciprocity actions on businesses, SMEs, Yusuf advises FG
• Fully vaccinated South African President tests positive for COVID-19 after a visit to Abuja
• Buhari sends get-well-message to Ramaphosa, urges Nigerians to get vaccinated
• Britain reports first Omicron death, 496 Nigerians receive booster shots
In an anti-climax of the sort, the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, which had been primed to affirm a retaliatory travel ban imposed last week on Nigeria by the United Kingdom (UK), Canada and Saudi Arabia, yesterday, deferred its pronouncement until its next meeting on Monday, December 20.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had at the weekend, made the disclosure that the Federal Government would place the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia, among others, on a red list, banning both airlines and their citizens from coming into the country to reciprocate the earlier ban on Nigerians over the spread of Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The sanction, which had been recommended to the PSC by the Ministry of Aviation, was to take effect today; but at its weekly briefing yesterday, the PSC said it is working with mandate ministries to address the issues surrounding the restriction imposed by some countries on travellers from Nigeria.
Chairman of the PSC and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said: “While each country is entitled to put in place measures to protect its citizens, Nigeria has similar responsibilities. However, based on existing relationships, Nigeria has initiated diplomatic steps to make these countries reverse their course. This is ongoing in the interest of all parties concerned and we expect that positive results would emerge within the next one week.”
Represented by the Aviation Minister, Sirika, the SGF said the PSC also evaluated the developments on the relationship between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) “and we are pleased to inform you that the position of the Federal Government is in line with established ICAO Protocols and the spirit of the BASA signed with the UAE.
“Our sovereignty remains paramount and mutual respects shall be our guiding principle in as much as it should be in the best interest of Nigeria. The PSC will at its next regular briefing on Monday, December 20, brief you fully on developments.”
THE diplomatic row between Nigeria and UAE took a new twist yesterday, as the UAE reportedly banned foreign airlines from airlifting Dubai-bound Nigeria passengers. Read more
‘Nigeria Must Strengthen its Airlines for Global Competitiveness’
President, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Nigeria , Alex Nwuba, yesterday, called for the strengthening of Nigerian airlines through access to sovereign credit to support their growth.
He also said the Nigerian airlines in their structure should be modified to trade more as public utility/ public companies so that the issue of governance as to how airlines are run as entities, can be solved.
Nwuba, who was a guest on The Morning Show on ARISE News Channel, spoke on the backdrop of travel ban and restriction of airlines from the UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia, which will take effect today December 14. He said if the issues of capital and governance are addressed, Nigerian airlines will be strengthened and become competitive globally.
He expressed concern that the biggest challenge facing Nigerian airlines is capital, saying that if the airlines borrow money from banks to support their operations, they will be able to take on the likes of Ethiopia airlines, Kenya airlines and Egypt Air.
According to him, “ we are borrowing at double digits, 18 to 20 per cent, whereas Nigerian airlines are borrowing at one or two per cent. On a competitive basis, if you look at the airlines , they are running a profit level of three to five per cent. So if you are borrowing at 22 per cent, it will be a disadvantage for
us.
“ We have called on the minister to say Nigeria should be able to access its sovereign credit, it is to raise low interest fund that will buy equipment to equip Nigerian airlines and support their growth. Even Nigerian airlines in their structure should be modified to trade more as public utility/ public companies in that sense, so that we can solve the governance issue which is how airlines are run as entities. So if we address the issues of capital and governance, Nigerian airlines will be strengthened and become competitive globally. And we will be able to take on the likes of Ethiopia airlines, Kenya airlines and Egypt Air. So basically, capital is the challenge.”
Asked why this has not been achieved, Nwuba who is also the former Chief Executive Officer of Associated Airlines, said in Nigeria, solutions have been proffered for a number of things, but they are not getting done, because “they are not addressing issues from that table, we are addressing it from a complete different point of view.”
Asked if the ban takes effect today, what should be the end game, the president noted that as long as Nigeria presents the issue to all parties as being fair to all parties, noting that in every negotiation, there has to be a win-win. Read more
United Nigeria Airline Gets A320 Aircraft to Deepen Operations
Indigenous carrier, United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), has acquired a new Airbus 320 aircraft to further boost its fleet and expand its route network.
The new equipment, The Guardian learnt, touched down in Lagos on Sunday, December 12, 2021, bringing the airline’s fleet capacity to eight.
Spokesman of the airline, Achillieus-Chud Uchegbu, told reporters that with the additional aircraft, the airline would boost its domestic operations and frequencies this December, to further make connections easier for the travelling public at this time of the year.
Uchegbu said the airline was pleased with the positive feedback it received from its passengers as well as their demand for the carrier to extend services to other airports nationwide.
He pledged that the airline would continue to offer quality services to its clients and assured that more routes would be opened very soon.
“UNA understands that the service of a reliable airline is built around schedule integrity and safety, which remains the fulcrum of UNA’s entire operations,” Uchegbu said.
He insisted that the airline had been operating flights in line with global safety standards and vowed that it would continue to maintain such in all its operations.
The new A320 has a total capacity of 180 seats; 12 business and 168 in the economy category.
The aircraft would be deployed to Lagos, Owerri, Asaba and Enugu route operations.
Source: Leadership Newspaper, The Nation Online, Nigerian Guardian, ThisDay Online