Former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka said Emirates Airline embarrassed President Bola Tinubu with its plans to recommence flight operations in Nigeria. Chidoka stated this in an interview on Thursday.
He said, “I am saying that Nigeria as a country should refer to logic and treat things with logic. Why will a country embarrass our president in this contentious manner and then just waltz back into Nigeria, announcing that they are resuming flights on October 1?”
Chidoka faulted the rationale behind the visa ban, particularly its timing and the targeting of Nigeria.
He said there is inconsistency in the country’s actions, pointing out that while they banned travel from 20 countries, they did not suspend flights to any of them.
This discrepancy, according to Chidoka, raises questions about the fairness and logic behind the decision.
He said, “The Emirates banned 20 countries from going to Africa. They operate 26 flights everyday going to Africa, minus Lagos where they have two flights and Abuja, one and none of the 20 countries stopped operation after the visa ban, telling me that the visa ban was targeted at Nigeria.
“The other 19 countries they mentioned were just a fax to create the impression that it was a widespread thing. Only in Nigeria did they stop their flight operation.
“Emirate as an airline, decided that Nigeria was owing them. Now the top five countries owing airlines in the world include Bangladesh, Algeria, Pakistan, Lebanon, and the emirate did not cancel operations in those countries. They were being owed in these countries, so, what is the rationale with Nigeria?
“Emirate is the wealthiest airline in the world. What is 85 million dollars to Emirates? They continued to pay their staff salaries in Nigeria. They didn’t stop. They continued to pay their rent because they knew they would come back at some point.
“I believe that Emirates decided that they didn’t want Nigerians in their country during their expo and decided to ban them to stop Nigerians from coming. Arguably, for criminal behaviours and for some issues with Nigerians.
“Meanwhile, while the ban was on, they invested almost 225 million dollars into Nigeria in that same year. Of the 20 countries they banned, they didn’t cancel their flight to any. Of the top five countries, according to IATA data, they didn’t stop flights to any of the other four except Nigeria.
“What do you make of this information? Emirates was perceived as Nigeria’s greatest ally. We wanted Emirates as an ally because it opens us up to the eastern economies.”
“In Aviation, the problem is that people think it is all high net worth, big names but it is just like every other transport mode and the airport is like a motor park or port.
“They behave the same way. In aviation, the money that runs FAAN comes from these airlines. Their salaries, everything comes from the money IATA deducted. Nigeria has the highest taxes in the world when you apply from a Nigerian airport. So, it takes the minister or head of agencies to come to terms to say no more.
“The basic issues of Nigeria today are issues of governance. When I became minister, one of the first things I did was to arrange with the ICPC to raid the airport and arrest everybody collecting bribes from people coming in. I didn’t tell the president and after the operation, I came under numerous calls.
“The customs said that we embarrassed their staff, the DSS said I embarrassed their staff. We collected pictures and caught them with money. So, I sent the pictures to the president because every time a visitor comes to Nigeria and you tell him how you dey and you collect money from him, you demean us as a people, he said I support you. For me, it was an ideological issue. If you are going to work in the airport, then these are the ground rules.”
