The Federal Government has signed the Cape Town Convention (CTC) Practice Directions for the Nigerian airlines.
This will expectedly bring down insurance premium and also prompt lessors to bring down payments in wet and dry leasing of aircraft by Nigerian airlines.
Currently, Nigeria is designated as high risk country, which gave rise to the blacklist of Nigerian carriers for dry leasing of aircraft and high cost of leasing of aircraft, but with the signing of CTC, those inhibitions will be removed for indigenous carriers, as the Federal Government would now protect lessors and ensure airlines are accountable in their dealings with suppliers, lessors and others.
A statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications (Office of The Vice President), Mr. Stanley Nkwocha yesterday indicated that the signing into law of the CTC Practice Directions was a move to reduce the cost of airline operations in the Nigerian aviation sector.
The statement hinted that the CTC Practice Direction was signed by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, during a stakeholders’ meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The statement emphasised that some local operators had, in the past, breached the Cape Town Convention, which regulates aircraft leasing across the world, leading to the Aviation Working Group, co-chaired by Airbus and Boeing, saying Nigeria would be blacklisted until it implements a law that would guide against a repeat of such breach.
Speaking after the signing of the CTC Practice Direction, Vice President Shettima said the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was a pro-business government that was ready to take all the necessary measures – as painful as some might be – to protect, promote, project and preserve the interest of the Nigerian nation as well as preserve and promote the nation’s airlines industry.
He said: “It is a great day for the Nigerian nation. We had fruitful engagements and we were able to cross-pollinate ideas across all sectors and have come up with robust solutions to the challenges facing the Aviation industry.
“I want to seize this opportunity to commend my Lord, Justice John Tsoho, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court. Judges are, by nature, very conservative people. For him to frontally address the issue and sign the Cape Town Convention (CTC) Practice Directions, I think, is worthy of commendation.”
Shettima further commended Mr. Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, saying that all the issues agitating the minds of the airlines operators had been frontally addressed by the minister.
He explained that the airline operators would also meet with the minister to further consolidate all the gains.
Shettima assured airline operators in the country that Tinubu would do everything to promote and preserve the Nigerian airline industry.
He said, “And, of course, my brother, Allen Ikechukwu Onyema, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, and Alhaji Dr. Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, the Chairman of Azman Airlines, I want to assure you that the present administration headed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a pro-business government, is a pro-Nigeria government, and will take all necessary measures to protect, promote, project and preserve the interest of the Nigerian nation.
“Air Peace has a fleet of 35 airlines and 26 more on order. Be rest assured that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is keenly interested in the promotion and preservation of the Nigerian airline industry. I spoke with him about three days ago, and he was very much interested in the outcome of our deliberations today, and I will report back to him.”
On his part, Edun, promised to meet with airline operators and other stakeholders to perfect issues pertaining to agreements reached at the meeting with the Vice President.
He said: “My Lord, the CJ of the Federal High Court, called it action to revolutionise the airline industry. PEBEC is all about improving the business environment and reducing cost and what has been signed here is action that will substantially reduce cost in the airline industry, facilitate growth and development of that industry, and include further action that, I’m sure, would be taken in that direction once I meet with the airline industry and also have Customs present to discuss some charges which they want lowered, and which they believe by law should, in fact, have been implemented at lower levels.
“So, we’ll discuss that on Monday; that will be a further step in the direction of improving the business environment for airlines and, of course, it is all about a strategy that already has produced a growing economy, lower inflation, a relatively stable exchange rate and increased foreign reserves, positive balance of trade.”
Speaking on behalf of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Mr. Allen Onyema, the Chairman, Air Peace, expressed appreciation to Tinubu for enhancing a positive change in the aviation sector.
He added that since assuming office, the President had introduced policies that would help improve the lives of Nigerians.
“Today is a historic day for Nigeria. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has once again demonstrated that he is not only a listening President but has gone a long way to engender the ease of doing business in the aviation industry more than any other since the creation of this country called Nigeria.
“We the Airline Operators are so happy and we commend him for what he has done today. Today is a revolution. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has caused a positive revolution in the aviation industry by making sure that this practice direction concerning the Cape Town Convention and its application in Nigeria,” Onyema stated.
Also, the Special Adviser to the President on Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, noted that the signing of the document would help reduce the cost of insurance as well as reduce the cost of doing business in the aviation sector.
She explained that Nigerians had experienced a high cost of flight tickets lately, which was caused by a number of factors, including foreign exchange and others.
She lauded the president for his attention to ease-of-doing business and making sure that Nigeria was a progressively easier place to start and grow a business.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, who was represented by Dr. Anastasia Gbem, the Aviation Ministry’s Director of Human Resources, said the signing of the document on actualising the Cape Town Convention was in line with the ministry’s goal of enhancing the capacity of local airlines’ business.
She added that the signing of the document would reassure the international community that it is safe to invest in Nigeria.
She said: “Investors can bring their aircraft into Nigeria and if there is any problem, such aircraft would be recovered within the 10-day period that Nigeria and the Cape Town Convention have provided.
So, it is an unprecedented history made today and it is a venture that will boost the Nigerian airlines and the entire aviation industry.”
On his part, the Chief Executive Office of the National Insurance Commission of Nigeria, Mr. Olusegun Omoseye, said the signing of the document was significant progress for Nigeria’s aviation sector and the economy in general.
