By Ibrahim Muhammed
The news of suspension of flight from Nigeria by Saudi Arabia General authority of civil aviation came as a shock and an unexpected development at this particular period of time. There are many factors being ascribed to the reason for the suspension of flight by the Saudi Aviation authority. The announcement that the new Omicron variants have been found in Nigeria may have created serious panic in Saudi aviation cycles. This may be justified owing to the fact that Nigerians are among the largest Umrah pilgrims currently in the Kingdom. As at the time of writing this piece, there are over 200 Nigerian Umrah pilgrims in the Kingdom awaiting departure.
For example, announcement of suspension of countries from entering the Kingdom based on health related issues usually emanates from the Saudi Ministry of Health and Saudi Ministry of interior while Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj and Umrah is saddled with the announcement of countries that can participate in Hajj or Umrah.
However, the suspension of flight from Nigeria was announced via a memo dated 8th December 2021 by the Saudi Arabia General Authority of Civil Aviation – an unusual protocol in the Kingdom. It is also instructive to note that neither the Saudi Press Agency nor any other media reported the flight suspension hours after the memo was dispatched to all the airlines in the Kingdom. This is a strange move that requires more analysis because news or information on previous suspension of flight or lifting of suspension by the Kingdom is usually made available to Saudi Press Agency SPA before any other media.
For example it was the Ministry of Interior that announced the suspension of flights from and to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini recently .
Arab News reported that “The Ministry of Interior said it had been decided to suspend flights from and to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini, based on the continuous follow-up of the epidemiological situation and concerns health authorities in the Kingdom have raised about the emergence of the mutated strain of the virus in a number of countries, Saudi Press Agency reported.
That reason was “based on the continuous follow-up of the epidemiological situation and concerns health authorities in the Kingdom have raised about the emergence of the mutated strain of the virus in a number of countries as reported by Saudi Press Agency.
So, did the Saudi Arabia General Authority of Civil Aviation give any reason for the suspension? The response is somewhat sketchy because the three paragraph memo signed by the Assistant President for Economic Policies and Air Transport does not anchor any reasons for the action. Our diplomats in the Kingdom should dialogue with the Kingdom to know the underlying cause of this sudden slamming of door on Nigeria because the Kingdom has never singled Nigeria for suspension even when the Covid 19 reaches an alarming stage.
Yes, because aside from the closing of its airspace that affects all countries, this is the first time Saudi Arabia is specifically suspending flights from Nigeria since Covid 19 pandemic. In March 2020, the Kingdom suspended all international flights for two weeks having previously banned travel from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt. Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt and India were also suspended in March 2020 due to increases in cases of Coronavirus in those countries.
The ban on Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt and India was lifted last week and flights have started arriving in Saudi Arabia from those countries.
Nigeria was not suspended when 20 countries were barred from entering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during Covid 19. Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Arab Emirates were once suspended. This is where we need to apply cautious and approach the suspension and apply diplomacy to unravel the cause of the suspension so as to immediately figure out a way out before Hajj operations come calling.
It is noteworthy that the Kingdom has not announced a ban of flight on a single country since the pandemic arrives.
To flip the coin, there are also strong indications that the suspension may be a way to draw the attention of relevant agencies from Nigeria to compel its travelers to abide by certain health related guidelines in the Kingdom. Yours sincerely has come across such scenarios where some travelers prefer to twist and turn the Covid 19 entry protocol in Saudi Arabia.
Muhammed is the National Coordinator, Independent Hajj Reporters
Flight frequency: Air Peace writes aviation minister, says UAE official lied
Nigerian airline, Air Peace, has rejected claims made by aviation authorities in the United Arab Emirate, on why the country decided to deny it flight slots in the Middle-East country.
The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority had on Friday described Air Peace’s request for three slots instead of one it was given at the country’s second busiest airport, Sharja Airport, as “unreasonable”. It advised the airline to make up for the shortfall with flights to any other airport in the country that have available slots.
Earlier, Dubai-based Emirates suspended all its flights to Abuja and Lagos after the Nigerian government retaliated against the UAE’s treatment of Air Peace and cut Emirate’s slots from 21 to one.
The matter has threatened diplomatic relations between the two countries, and on Friday UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority said Air Peace pulled out of Sharja Airport and should not expect to retain its flight frequency there.
“Air Peace initially operated at Sharja Airport, shifted to Dubai Airport and then returned to Sharjah airport. It would be unreasonable for an airline to expect any airport to maintain their slots when they ceased operating at that airport,” it said in a letter to Nigeria’s aviation minister, Hadi Sirika.
“In this regard, we wish to kindly advise you that Sharjah Airport is currently operating at 140% slot, but with goodwill and tremendous effort on their side, this airport was able to accommodate Air Peace with 1 of the 3 slots this airline requested.
“The GCAA wishes to stress that the action being taken by the NCAA is obviously not in line with the spirit of the agreed air services arrangements between our two Nations. As we are both aware, the relations between our two brotherly countries are vintage, one hallmark being the recent visit of the President of Nigeria to the UAE, which certainly ignored the status of these positive relations.
“Finally, we suggest that Air Peace should consider flying their two other flights to any UAE airport at which there are available slots. As expected, the GCAA will support Air Peace in this activity, if required.”
However, Air Peace in its response denounced the UAE’s claims, and accused its officials of falsehood. The airline, in a letter on at the weekend, demanded apologies and a retraction.
Air Peace insisted that it has only operated flights into Sharjah Airport alone. The Airline argued that UAE’s letter was written to deliberately damage the Airline’s perception in the eyes of the unsuspecting public by stating “it would be unreasonable for an airline to expect any airport to maintain their slots when they ceased operating at that airport”!
The letter read in part, “Sir, Air Peace has never been given slots at the Dubai International Airport. Slot availability was used to deny us operating from that popular airport as it was our first choice.
It was the politics of slot unavailability that did not allow us to operate into Dubai Airport directly. The lack of flight slot angle forced us to approach the Sharjah Airport as a last resort. We were welcomed by the government and people of Sharjah.
While we were denied slots in their most important airport, the Dubai Airport, Emirates has always enjoyed red carpet treatment in Nigeria where they were given our most important airports- Lagos and Abuja where they operate a total of 21 flights weekly!
We only asked for three flights weekly at the Sharjah Airport and we got same and started operations on the 5th of July, 2019 until Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020. Contrary to the letter, Air Peace never ceased operating from Sharjah International Airport since we started in July 2019.
We only stopped when every other airline was forced to stop normal scheduled flight operations as a result of the Covid-19 lockdowns that permitted only evacuation flights.
We did several evacuation flights out of Sharjah. So, we never left Sharjah Airport nor did we at any time “shifted” and operated out of DXB (Dubai Airport). The letter deliberately painted us as unserious while at the same time, suggesting that we look for other airports in the country to operate from.
After the restriction of scheduled flight operations between UAE and Nigeria was lifted towards the last week in November 2021, we approached the Sharjah Airport and GCAA with a request to allow us to operate a charter into the UAE on December 01, 2021.
Jamoh seeks to integrate marine police into deep blue project
—-assures IGP of support in combating maritime crimes
The Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has assured the Inspector -General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, of support and strengthened partnership in the fight against maritime crime.
Jamoh, at a meeting with the police IG in Abuja, promised to extend the ongoing collaboration NIMASA is having with other security agencies under the deep blue project to the marine unit of the police in areas of capacity building and provision of patrol support.
While both parties identified and applauded the reduction in piracy attacks in the blue waters, which is also confirmed by notable international bodies including the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and International Maritime Bureau (IMB), they identified the need for enhanced policing of the nation’s brown waters.
“NIMASA is seeking close integration and collaboration of the Nigerian Marine Police into our recently launched waterways security architecture, Deep Blue Project, to achieve an all-encompassing outcome stretching from the blue waters where we already have the Nigerian Navy’s presence to the brown waters near the anchorage areas where the Nigerian Police statutorily have a role to stem the tide of insecurity and checkmate criminal activities against berthing ships and seafarers,” Jamoh emphasized.
While urging that all parties maximize the use of technology in monitoring the waters, Dr. Jamoh commended the ongoing integration of NIMASA’s Command, Control Computer Communication and Information System (C4i) located at the NIMASA Resource Center in Kirikiri with the Falcon Eye of Nigerian Navy and Nigeria Police’s i247 for easy coordination and intelligence sharing.
He described the Nigeria Police as a strategic partner whose operation and support are essential for sustaining and improving on the gains already recorded in the anti-piracy drive and safety of small crafts.
Jamoh added that the police are critical in helping to prosecute suspects arrested under the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) law.
The IGP commended NIMASA’s efforts under its present management and reiterated the resolve of the force to fight crimes all over the country, including in the territorial waters.
He described the Marine Police as a very important arm of the force, considering the strategic importance of the waters to the economic and social well-being of the country.
The meeting had in attendance other senior police officers including Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Garba Umar, who is Head of National Central Bureau of Interpol in Nigeria and was recently elected Vice President of Interpol for Africa.
