FG cautioned on face-off with British Airways

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

As controversy rages over the reduction of frequencies granted the British Airways (BA) by the Ministry of Aviation over alleged discrimination in the implementation of Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Britain, the Federal Government has been cautioned against allowing the issue to degenerate to a diplomatic row.

The warning was issued by the Assistant Secretary-General of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, in his reaction to the development.

Tukur, who expressed dismay over the manner the Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah, handled the issue, argued that the issue at hand had nothing to do with BASA, but allocation of slots, which, he said, was beyond the British Airways, since there was an independent agency handling that.

According to Tukur, the minister ought to have referred the matter to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the body responsible for the regulation of civil aviation matters, instead of creating and generating unnecessary controversies to the point of involving National Assembly members.

“Can you imagine a situation where BA or any other carrier in the United Kingdom taking Arik Air before the House of Commons or the House of the Lords over slots allocation.

“It can never happen. If the Department of Transportation (DoT) receives anything like that, you do not hear the Secretary of Transportation (an equiva-lent of our minister) coming to the public to make a fuss, but, rather, refer such to the UKCAA to handle.

“With the way the matter is currently being handled by the minister and her permanent secretary, I pray they will not end up creating diplomatic problems between our two friendly countries and, at the end of the day, mess up themselves.

“If the government gets embarrassed, the only way out is to shuffle them aside. The way things are going, people will start feeling that there has been a compromise somewhere along the line. She should not get herself deeply involved in the ongoing circus show,” he said.

Tukur said since Arik Air, which is at the center of the controversy, is a private carrier and not a national carrier, there was a level to which government could interfere.

-Tribunewp_posts