Lagos — The Federal Government yesterday insisted that the United Kingdom (UK) government breached the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) it entered into with Nigeria.
The Media Assistant to the Minister of Aviation, Mr Joe Obi, in a statement yesterday said the UK government must respect the sanctity of the agreement, saying the current controversy had nothing to do with Arik Air.
"While the Minister of Aviation maintains that Arik Air, a Nigerian flag carrier has not been fairly treated by the sudden denial of its slots from Abuja into London Heathrow, the main issue at stake here is not about Arik Air but about the need to respect the spirit and letter of BASA agreement which is predicated on the principles of equity, fairness and reciprocity.
The federal government recently issued an ultimatum to the British authorities to restore the slot denied Arik air into London Heathrow recently, or risk a reprisal treatment on its carrier, British Airways.
"Those who argued that the fate of Arik Air with regard to the loss of its slots into London Heathrow was a consequence of purely independent, commercial decisions by ACL which is in charge of slot allocation into Heathrow are missing the point, if not being entirely mischievous,"Mr Obi argued.
He said British authorities are under obligation as far as BASA is concerned to ensure that whatever 'independent' and 'commercial' decisions are taken by its corporate citizens do not infringe on bilateral agreements, "otherwise, business concerns in the UK, and indeed other countries around the world would, as has happened with ACL, resort to unfair practices to edge out competition with its indigenous companies ostensibly on the excuse that they act independent of the authorities concerned."
It added that the Ministry of Aviation under the present dispensation will not stand idly while Nigerian flag carriers are unfairly treated when BASA agreements clearly state otherwise.
The statement explained that if this is allowed to happen, an undesirable precedent would have been set whereby the rights and privileges of Nigerian airlines would blatantly be violated by apparently independent business concerns in other countries other that the UK.
"We regret to note that the letter and spirit of BASA has not been respected as far as the treatment of Arik Air is concerned.
But it is Arik Air today and it could as well be another Nigerian flag carrier tomorrow. Our position is that whether it is Arik Air or any other Nigerian airline, the reciprocal cornerstone of BASA must be maintained and the Nigerian government is not about to shirk its responsibility to protect its corporate citizens whose rights under BASA are surreptitiously being violated under different guises," the statement said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment