TheCable

The federal executive council (FEC) has approved the signing of a bilateral air services agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Kuwait.

The council gave the approval on Wednesday in a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

BASA is an air transport agreement between two countries that allows designated airlines to operate commercial flights, covering transportation of passengers and cargoes.

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, while speaking to journalists at the end of the FEC meeting, said the agreement will open up airline services between the two countries.

Sirika added that the signing was in accordance with the provisions of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

“That memo has to do with the signing of the bilateral air service agreement between the federal republic of Nigeria and the state of Kuwait.  In that memorandum as approved, the text was earlier on initialled and was cleared by the federal ministry of justice,” he said.

“It provided that the content of the agreement should have reciprocal rights and privileges for both countries and airlines involved. This will open up opportunities for air transportation between the two countries, in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) convention of 7th December 1944, to which both countries are signatories.”

Nigeria has, so far, signed over 90 air travel agreements, a document that also makes provision for the repatriation of revenue earned by foreign carriers.

It was the BASA that gave impetus to stakeholders to call out the federal government when foreign airlines threatened to shut down services to Nigeria recently.

Last month, the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ART) asked the federal government to comply with the provisions of the BASA as regards foreign airlines’ $464 million revenue trapped in Nigeria.

ART asked the government to “do the needful” as stipulated by the agreement.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) then released $265 million to airlines operating in the country to settle outstanding ticket sale which had caused some airlines to contemplate suspension.