Why FG fought for restoration of Emirate flights between Nigeria,UAE-Keyamo
from left David Broz, Senior Vice President, Aeronautical and Airline Affairs, Emirates; HE Zayyan Ibrahim, UAE Consul General to Nigeria; Khalid Al Mannaei, CEO, UAE VP office, Political Affairs; Mr Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development; Adi Al Ghaith, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Central Asia, Emirates; Paulos Legesse, Country Manager Nigeria, Emirates and Captain Chris Najomo, Ag. DG, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority during a ceremony to welcome first Emirates flight back to Nigeria at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos on Wednesday
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Why FG fought for restoration of Emirate flights between Nigeria,UAE-Keyamo
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development,Mr.Festus Keyamo has explained why the Federal Government fought for the restoration of Emirates airline flights between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates which ceased about two years ago. Speaking with journalists at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos shortly on arrival from Dubai aboard Emirates airliner,said that Dubai in particular is a major hub of the world. According to him,Dubai links virtually every country of the world.” I have not seen any major country, and I use that word advisedly as a major country, that is not linked from Dubai.” So for Nigerian travelers, he stated, it is easy to access any part of the world by simply traveling to Dubai and connecting to that countries. “And for our airlines too, I can speak, I can tell you that we also secured some kind of code-sharing agreement. We told them that if they want to code-share, our airlines will have the right of first refusal.” Speaking further,Keyamo explained that our local airlines will have the right of first refusal because there will be a lot of code-sharing in this respect now. “And as I speak with you, they are speaking with many of our local operators. I went with some of them, I’m sure you saw some of them. Emirates is speaking with a lot of our local operators now, and that is also for the benefit of our local aviation industry.” |
He attributed the restoration of Emirates flights to Nigeria to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu saying that when he came into office, he made it clear that he would like to restore relationships with most of the major partners and countries around the world.
“We identified as a government, the UAE as a major and important partner and country that we should restore our relationship with.”
He told news men that relationship between Nigeria and United Arab Emirates went downhill before, with suspension of visas, suspension of their flights and for Nigerians, it was especially damaging because we know that Nigerians have a lot of investments, interests in the UAE.
“ So eventually, it was not an adventure in self-glorification, it was actually a fight for the people of Nigeria, especially. And I’m sure you see that the tempo around is that people are excited, people are happy that we are restoring relationships with the UAE.”
