It is with great concern that I write to make this clarification in view of the ugly scenario created against our esteemed company that had followed due process in contracting business with Nigeria.
It is indeed sad to note that our patience and silence had encouraged deliberate efforts geared towards creating this erroneous impression to blackmail, distract, misinform and smear our organization and create ill-feeling amongst various stakeholders in Hajj operation in Nigeria.
We have in recent times followed trends in which falsehood was sponsored in the media to achieve this. For the avoidance of doubt, the intent of this write up is to put the facts on record and in clear perspective for Nigerians to know the truth and for posterity.
The much-talked-about quota allocation to Flynas dates back to 2010 following a Royal decree by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The decree requested countries particularly those participating actively in Hajj to allocate at least 50% of their pilgrims to be airlifted every year by a designated Saudi based airline. It is as a result of this that Nigeria and Saudi Arabia went into a bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) on 16th & 17th of Feb, 2015 for Nigeria to start the implementation of this accord on a progressive basis starting from 25% in 2015 up to 50% in 2018.
Part of that agreement reads: On the 16th and 17th of February, 2015 a Nigeria delegation led by Ambassador Danjuma N. Sheni, Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Aviation signed an agreement with GACA to the effect: That Nigeria will allocate 16,000 (25%) pilgrims to FlyNas for the year 2015, subject to fulfilling the necessary documentation and compliance with the Nigeria Rules and Regulation growing the airlift of pilgrims, and that there will be a yearly increment of the number of pilgrims allocated to Saudi carriers as follows: 2016 – 35% 2017 – 45%, 2018 – 50% of the total Government Hajj quota. Nigeria equally benefited from this ratified agreement as her interest was hinged on the request by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria for the refund of royalty paid in 2007 and 2008, a negotiation that was honoured and successfully implemented by Saudi Arabia.
Similarly, the Commission on behalf of Nigeria succeeded in the battle not to pay the customary 75SR Royalty per pilgrim to Saudi Airline in line with the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between the two Countries.
This is an agreement reached with many countries. It is not Nigeria alone. Already countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt and other African countries like Ghana, Niger, Chad, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali had ensured full implementation of this agreement. Nigeria was the only country that is yet to fully implement this agreement since 2010.
We have an enduring respect for the Nigerian Government and her Good people. It is our fervent hope and prayer that such a mutual yet bilateral agreement shall be respected and enforced.
Umar Kaila, MD/CEO of First Planet Travels Limited, Official Representative of Flynas in Nigeria wrote in from Abuja
[myad]
