By Francis Ogwo
The Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, has expressed disappointment at the Nigerian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for its show of preference of foreign airlines over carriers in Nigeria especially on evacuation flights describing at as economic sabotage.
Honourable Nnaji made the disclosure on Monday while reacting to the recent marketing of Emirates ticket sales to stranded Nigerians for evacuation.
According to him, in June, the House of Representatives, after adopting a motion on the continued use of foreign airlines to evacuate stranded Nigerians abroad, instructed the Committee on Aviation to liaise with the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19, the Ministries of Aviation and Foreign Affairs and other relevant agencies to ensure that only indigenous airlines should carry out the subsequent evacuation of stranded Nigerians abroad.
The committee chairman, who represents Nkanu East/West Federal Constituency of Enugu State in the House of Representatives, said it feels bad that the Embassy has promoted Emirates business, especially on the evacuation in defiance to an earlier agreement that Nigerian carriers with capacity to do the evacuations should be encouraged to participate.
He argued that the move was rubbing off on the country’s revenue and the opportunity of recovery for these airlines, which have lost fortunes to the economic hardships imposed by the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions.
“All over the world, embassies and diplomats strive to promote and protect the economic interests of their nations but it is unfortunate that this has not been the case with our Embassy in UAE,” Nnaji said.
The committee chairman called for serious investigations into the roles of the embassy officials in Abu Dhabi, saying that if found culpable, severe sanctions should be slammed against them.
He also urged the PTF and Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Aviation as well as their agencies to wade into the matter and enforce the agreement to empower local airlines in the evacuation of stranded Nigerians.
Recall that the Chairman of Air Peace, Dr Allen Onyema, had in a briefing with the Senate Committee on Aviation, argued that his brand and other airlines in the country are equipped with good carriers and fleet and should not be allowed to drown while British Airways makes fortunes from Nigeria’s economy.
