By Chris Udochukwu
Abuja (Precise Post) – The Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday met with the Minster of Aviation, Hadi Sirika his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama and the Chairman of Airpeace, Allen Onyema, to resolve the flight row between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
The meeting took place behind closed doors at the National Assembly Complex.
Members of the House Committee on Aviation had assembled at the venue for the meeting, but was told after about two hours of waiting, that the Speaker was already meeting with the ministers in his office.
After the closed-door session, Speaker Gbajabiamila, alongside the ministers briefed journalists on the outcome of the parley.
The Speaker said that the UAE government is already taking steps to address the situation in the last few days and we commend the bold step taking by the Minister to take Nigeria’s name out of the red list.
It is a welcome development particularly in the last two days, the president has been there, the vice president has been there and many of our government functionaries have been there to foster stronger ties between the two countries.
“A letter was written to Air Peace slotting seven slots out of the many that are possible. A lot of revelations were made during the closed door meeting and we rather keep them as closed doors revelations until this matter is resolved and it’s quarter to being resolved”, the Speaker said.
We had a very fruitful discussion and I believe in the next few days, this matter will be completely sealed and that’s what the meetings are for – to make assurances that we are sure to make, and I call it parliamentary diplomacy, that’s what we engage in.
“And so we are not going to allow these to mar the giant strides that have been made between the two countries,” the Speaker said.
He also commended Nigerians for standing by the government to defend the country’s ‘national pride’. Adding that “national pride, if well justified, trumps every other thing.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs in his short comment, said Nigeria and UAE have excellent relationship as have been proved by the recent visits and other engagements.
He said the issue of the Airlines is being dealt with by the two friendly governments and expressed optimism that the matter will be very quickly.
Onyeama commended the goodwill shown by the governments of Nigeria and UAE at the highest level and efforts being made to resolve these issues quickly.
Earlier, the House had resolved to intervene in the row following a motion moved by Ndudi Elemelu (PDP, Delta) in November.
Recall that Nigeria had reduced Emirate Airline slot to one from the initial 21 slots approved as a retaliation for the ‘unfair’ treatment of Air Peace airline.
The irate Dubai-based Emirates had then suspended all its flights to Abuja and Lagos after the Nigerian government’s decision on the airline.
Following the controversy, UAE had in a letter signed by the Director-General of General Civil Aviation Authority, Mohammed Ahli, directly to Air Peace, offered the airline the option to fly directly to Dubai and not Sharjah Airport that it had earlier requested.
It said the slots have been made available for Air Peace “as a gesture of goodwill and in support of the relations between the two countries.”
