Di Issue of flight cancellations and delays without prior notice to passengers go soon end, Nigeria Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo tok.
Di minister also say di high prices of tickets for local and international flights dey give am concern, and im don begin find out wetin dey cause am.
For inside one exclusive interview wit BBC Pidgin, di former Minister of State for Niger Delta explain say, wetin dey cause di delays for flight,flight cancellations and high price of tickets, na sake of say di airline operators for Nigeria no get enough aeroplanes.
E say goment don start di process wey go give Nigeria airline operators power to do business wit foreign companies wey dey manufacture aeroplanes.
“I go meet di pipo for ground, kon ask dem, dem tell me say di money wey dem dey pay to hire (rent) aeroplane too much.
“Dem dey call am wet lease, and di kain aeroplane wey dem dey get no be di ones wey dem go pay small small money, why? na becos di pipo wey dey bring aeroplane come Nigeria for business dey fear Nigeria.
“Dem say Nigeria, na wayo pipo full hia and anytime dem bring dia plane come Nigeria if di pipo no fit pay, dem no dey fit collect am back.”
” I go meet dem, around di world, dem tell us to change our law wey dem dey call Capetown convention, wen you sign am e mean say una don serious.”
Di law wey we sign be say, if anybodi bring aeroplane enta Nigeria, if problem dey goment go say make dem come carry dia aeroplane go, we no go fit hold am, e tok.
Oga Keyamo explain say immediately Nigeria goment sign dat law and agreement, Nigeria rating jump from 49 percent to 70.5 percent.
E say if enough plane dey, di price of ticket go come down.
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‘No be who dey drive aeroplane be Minister’
Di Aviation minister wey also be former Minister of State, Labour and Employment tell BBC Pidgin say, most of di pipo wey bin dey tok say im no get experience to run di Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development wen President Bola Tinubu bin appoint am don close dia mouths.
E tok say according to di law “No be who dey drive aeroplane be Minister”. E explain say di work of Aviation minister na to chook eye for di laws and drive policies wey go move di sector forward.
Dis na sake of say pipo sabi Keyamo well-well as ogbonge lawyer and Human right activist for Nigeria.
E say na di sense of law im dey use run di Aviation ministry, na di sense of law im use to chook eye for di agreement wey Nigeria and Emirates get wey make dem come back to Nigeria afta dem get kwanta wit goment.
“All dis agreement all ova di world wey our pipo, our local operators dey enta, e bring me to dis Capetown convention wey I tok, why pipo neva fit do am be say di tin too hard dem.
Bifor I come, dem don write letter tire to Nigeria say di kontri no dey obey di international law. “Di pipo wey dey bifor no understand am, dem no know say law na law”
“Pipo no dey understand say na lawyer dey chook eye well-well for dis papers bifor.”
Im explain say wetin oda pipo no fit achieve for Nigeria aviation industry, im use lawyer sense do am sharp -sharp for Nigeria
Nigeria airspace dey safe?
Local air passengers for Nigeria bin don witness some issue for di aviation industry wey no sweet dia belle, especially wen e concern safety.
Some of di incidents wey don happun for di past and recently make pipo dey dey ask wetin goment dey do to make airspace dey safe for air travellers.
Di Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo tell BBC Pidgin say, even though challenges of old equipment dey, beta hands dey on ground wey dey use dem well.
“E get some (aviation) equipment we wan make sure say we put fire make dem work well-well.
“E get some wey be say e don tey wey we buy dem, and as dis goment come we look am say all dis tins don old pass ten years and if you go dis big-big airports for di world, dem don dey buy new ones sake of technology and di new ones get more power and dey work well-well.”
Oga Keyamo say President Tinubu don direct di ministry to look for new aircrafts so dat nothing go happun to Nigeria pipo.
E say dem dey go round now, dey look for di best equipment to improve di navigation wen plane dey land to improve safety.
Im add say anoda issue wey concern safety na maintenance – sake of say di pipo wey get di aircrafts no dey maintain dem well.
“Di pipo wey suppose look am no dey look am well-well bifor, so me I don tell dem say na one of our first objective.
“I don tell dem say safety na number one, so di pipo wey suppose put eye for all dis tyre, tins wey dem dey look upandan, I tell dem say if dem no look am well I go report dem to Mr President and I go arrest dem, as I open eye for dem now all of dem don sit-up and I dey put pressure on dem to do di right tins now.
We sef we dey do our own too dey go look for di equipment to improve safety.”
Oga Keyamo add say “Nigeria airspace dey safe for now” sake of say na experienced hands dey man di control tower and oda technicalities.
Nigeria Air for front, Ethiopia Air for back
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One of di biggest issue for Nigeria aviation sector for early 2023 na di issue of ‘Nigeria Air’
Nigeria goment under di former Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika bin insist say, dem go operate Nigeria Air like private company.
Dis dey come afta Nigerian goment bin announce. say dem go invest US$5 million for di business for 2017.
Afta dem announce Nigeria Air for 2018, dem bin plan to start main operations for December 2018, but Federal Goment on 19 September 2018 say dem dey suspend di airline.
Afta dem receive dia first aircraft, wey be Boeing 737-800, on 26 May 2023, Ethiopian Airlines bin decide to start operations for Nigeria from 29 May 2023.
For di deal Ethiopian Airlines get di highest single share wit 49 percent, Nigeria Sovereign Wealth fund (di pipo wey dey manage Nigeria sovereign wealth) get 46 percent while Nigeria goment get only 5 percent.
Oga Festus Keyamo tok why di deal no work, e say na im tell dem make dem no sign di deal, if not Nigeria for enta one-chance wit di kain agreement wey dem carry come.
“We bin don negotiate all dis international routes wit all dis foreign kontris, South Africa, Britain, United Arab Emirates, Jedda and di big-big routes wey go dey bring money, Nigerians dey fly dis routes well-well. We don get power wey dem dey call Basa, di right to fly all dis routes.
So e mean say all dis routes wey don negotiate so na Ethiopia we dey give. Na dem go come in di name of Nigeria Air to enjoy all dis tins, as dem dey pay di money, e dey go anoda kontri sake of say na dem get di aeroplane.
Dem also tok say all di big oga dem, Managing Director, CEO, Financial Director, Chief Operating Officer, Treasurer all of dem go be Ethiopia pipo.
Dem say di tax wey we dey pay dem no go pay, na so we go dey pet dem? We write am for paper say dem no go pay tax, tell me weda na investment be dat”. Oga Keyamo ask.
As e be so, Nigeria goment don comot hand from di deal and even court for Nigeria tok say di deal dey illegal.
Keyamo explain say to get National Carrier no be di main tin now, bifor dem go do am, dem go make sure say e benefit Nigerians.
Im also dey advocate for Nigeria local airline operators to get power to bring more aircraft come through wet -lease, so dat dem too go fit chook leg for International flights like Air Peace, wey don use strong eye enta London.
E tell BBC Pidgin say, dem still dey work on (Concessioning) how to comot hand from Nigeria Airports sake of di too much delay (bureaucracy) wey dey goment to maintain di airports and make tins work well.
E say wen dem get beta pipo wey go fit manage di airports well, goment go remove hand kpatakpata, and di pipo wey dey fear say dem go lose dia job, notin go happun to dem.
E add say even though in neva achieve im goal for di ministry, im don put am for ‘pipeline’ so dat di next pesin wey go take over from am go see wetin im do.
Wetin be Capetown Convention
Na di Convention on International Interests for Mobile Equipment. Dem conclude am for Cape Town on 16 November 2001.
Na di Protocol on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment. Di primary aim of di Convention and di Protocol, na to solve di problem of obtaining certain and opposable rights to high-value aviation assets.
Dis aviation assets include, airframes, aircraft engines and helicopters wey no get fixed location by dia nature.
Dem dey always solve problem wey dey come from di fact say legal systems get different ways wey dem dey handle securities, title retention agreements and lease agreements.
Dis agreement dey creates uncertainty sometimes wen dem dey borrow kontris and companies aeroplane and how dia rights strong reach.
Dis problem dey make dem no dey fit bring out money to produce aviation assets and e dey increase di borrowing cost.
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