Yemisi Izuora
Cape Verde has reached an agreement with Nigeria as the former has concluded plans to begin direct flight services to Lagos.
This is in line with existing Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between the two countries.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika made the disclosure after a meeting with Cape Verde representatives during a sideline meeting at the just concluded the First ICAO/UNWTO Ministerial Conference on Tourism and Air Transport in Africa, held in Sal, Cape Verde.
His words, “We have just concluded a meeting with Cape Verde authority and they have signified interest to start flight operations into Nigeria. Cape Verde is willing to exercise their right in the Bilateral Air Service Agreement and hopefully to seek a Nigeria airline that will reciprocate through flight operation into Cape Verde.”
“They will start operations into Nigeria very soon and we hope that Nigeria airlines will take the opportunity too, as they have already said they are looking forward to a Nigerian airline to partner with.”
Apart from the flight operations, the country is also planning to establish its embassy in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
On his twitter handle ‘@hadisirika’, the minister said: “Cape Verde to open an embassy in Abuja this year and also to commence direct flight”.
Another source who is privy to the meeting said Cape Verde has agreed to fulfill all necessary commitment and go through the process in line with international best practices.
He also hinted that ‘Cape Verde is ready to begin the operation with its national carrier, Cabo Verde Airlines and they are looking at this year.’
According to the source: “The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority will embark on inspection trip to Cape Verde to look at their facilities and their airlines in form of an audit before a final approval is given for them to commence operations into Nigeria.”
With this agreement, there are speculations that the total number of BASAs Nigeria has with other countries has risen to over 91. However, reports show that only 28 of those BASAs are active and no Nigerian carriers are currently taking part in the frequencies.
Experts have advocated for restraint in signing air service agreements when Nigerian carriers are unable to fly to any of the partner countries; some of which enjoy multiple entry points into the country as covered in the pact.
This development shortchanges indigenous carriers as well as the country with foreign airlines remitting huge amounts of money out of Nigeria on ticket sales.
Lack of capacity greatly affects Nigerian carriers. This often results in failure to reciprocate some of the bilateral air services agreements as indigenous carriers cannot match any of the foreign carriers on routes when the agreements are either utilised or reciprocated.