Concerns as Foreign Airlines Rip off Nigerians with Outrageous Fares Stakeholders urge FG to enforce BASA Aviation professionals seek settlement of $464m airlines’ funds Chinedu Eze With the advertised fares on foreign airlines’ websites, Nigerians now pay three times more than other travellers for the same destinations amid a threat by the international operators to suspend flights,
THISDAY’s investigation has revealed. Stakeholders in the aviation industry have therefore urged the federal government to enforce the full implementation of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA), which stipulates that foreign
airlines should pay royalties to the government, especially when the Nigerian carriers cannot reciprocate the same service to the host countries of their foreign counterparts. This is coming as more pressure has been mounted on the federal
government to settle the $464million trapped funds belonging to foreign airlines flying the Nigerian routes. Aviation industry stakeholders have however described the exorbitant fares as a rip-off. THISDAY’s investigation further showed that travellers from other
countries where airlines are also yet to repatriate their revenues do not pay such outrageous fares. Other countries in Africa that hold on to the huge amount of airlines’ revenues as of June 2022 include Zimbabwe – $100 million; Algeria – $96 million; Eritrea – $79
million, Ethiopia, $75 million and Ghana, which was not listed by IATA in June but had not allowed airlines to repatriate their earnings due to paucity of foreign exchange. THISDAY gathered that the Continued on page 6
Presidency: We’ll Soon Reveal Those Behind Crude Oil Theft in Nigeria… Page 5 Sunday 21 August, 2022 Vol 27. No 9994
www.thisdaylive.com TR
UT H
& RE A S O
N400
N
Ayu Rejects PDP NWC’s Proposal to Hold Private Audience with Wike Secondus kicks as Rivers gov boasts of removing him as PDP chairman Chuks Okocha in Abuja The efforts to reconcile aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have suffered a setback as the National
Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, has rejected the proposal by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) for him to hold a private audience with the Governor of Rivers State,
Mr. Nyesom Wike. Wike’s loyalists are insisting that one of the conditions to reconcile the Rivers State governor with the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, is for Ayu to
vacate his seat for the southerner. A meeting held on Friday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, between the reconciliation teams of Atiku and Wike ended in a deadlock.
Wike's team, it was learnt, was said to have insisted that Ayu must resign as a condition precedent for further discussion. The leader of the team led by a former governor of Ondo State,
Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, told Atiku’s team led by Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State that they should inform the former vice Continued on page 8
Delta Stands Still as Princess Margaret Obaigbena Goes Home in Grand Style Tinubu, Obi, Okowa, Fayemi, Ganduje, Obaseki, Bagudu, Sanwo-Olu, Abiodun, Soludo, Irabor, Emefiele, Dangote, Elumelu, Ovia, Oshiomhole, Osoba, Amosun, Imoke, Duke, Ihedioha, others honour Princess of Owa Kingdom Chiemelie Ezeobi, Nume Ekeghe, Nosa Alekhoige and Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba Delta State stood still yesterday as eminent Nigerians from all walks of life thronged the usually quiet town of Owa-Oyibu, the administrative headquarters of Ika North-East Local Government Area of the state to pay their last respects to the late Princess of Owa Kingdom, Mrs Margaret Obaigbena, whose remains were interred at the Obaigbena royal family compound. Princess Obaigbena, who passed away on Friday, June 17, 2022, at the age of 87 after a brief illness, left her footprints as the Chief Nursing Officer in old Bendel State and later, Delta State, where she served meritoriously. The matriarch also served three successive governments in Delta State as Special Adviser, deploying her robust wealth of experience in health sector management to serve her people, community and the state. Continued on page 5
GIVING MAMA A BEFITTING BURIAL… L-R: Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; Chairman/CEO, Quits Aviation, Dr. Sam Iwuajoku; presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Bola Tinubu; Chairman/Editor-in-Chief, THISDAY/ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena; Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje; and former Governor of Delta State, Mr. James ABIODUN AJALA Ibori, at the funeral service in honour of Dame Princess Margaret Onyemakonor Obaigbena at St. Andrews Anglican Church, Owa-Oyibu, Delta State...yesterday
SSANU, NASU Suspend Strike for Two Months… Page 6