Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), say the position taken by the Federal Government and Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation on its face-off with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) shows the sovereignty of Nigeria.
A statement by Dr. Abdulmunaf Safina, the President, AON, said that government showed courage and stood for the honour, dignity and respect of the country throughout the impasse with the Middle East country.
He also commended Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General of NCAA for his dogged and courages actions, which did not leave anyone in doubt about his resolve to do all within his capacity not to allow any country disrespect the country.
He said: “We thank President Muhammadu Buhari for his unwavering stance on this issue, which emboldened the Minister of Aviation to reciprocate with equal measure the treatment meted out to a Niegrian airline operating into the UAE.
“We commend the Buhari’s government for standing solidly and protectively behind not only Nigerian airlines, but also indigenous investments and investors in Nigeria. By the recent reciprocal actions undertaken by the Federal Government, national sense of pride and belief in Nigeria rose to an all-time high.”
The group declared that it was not opposed to other foreign airlines operating into Nigeria, but frowned at the alleged underhand actions of some of these airlines and their countries in making it difficult for Nigerian carriers to get the necessary permits to operate in their countries.
The statement added that AON was not unmindful of the leading roles the Minister played in getting President Buhari to sign the Customs Duty and Value Added Tax (VAT) waivers into law immediately the National Assembly passed the bill.
The UAE recently reduced the three weekly flights operated by Nigeria’s Air Peace into the Sharjah International Airport to just one flight per week, while UAE’s carrier, Emirates, operates 21 flights weekly into Nigeria, a situation that led Nuhu to reduce Emirates frequency into Nigeria to just one flight weekly.
The UAE authorities have not only granted seven slots per week to Air Peace, but have granted the Nigerian carrier the slots to operate from the preferred Dubai Airport instead of Sharjah.
