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| Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah |
Reasons emerged, weekend, why the Federal
Government cancelled its agreement with the German airline, Lufthansa, under
which the airline enjoyed free royalty payments for flights into the country.
Sources in the Ministry of Aviation disclosed that the Minister of
Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, instigated the cancellation of the four-year
agreement upon revelations that the German airline failed to fulfill its side
of the agreement signed in November 2008.
Oduah, it was learnt, moved to cancel the agreement following the
advice from the Attorney General of the Federation that the country had
sufficient reasons to cancel the agreement upon the confirmation that the
airline had not fulfilled its pledges.
Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding between the
government and Deutsche Lufthansa Aktiengesellschaft (LH)Germany, the German
airline was expected to provide technical assistance to the country besides
creating a hub inAbujain partnership with other international airlines. The
German airline was on its part expected to benefit through additional traffic
rights on concessionary basis.
Though the airline got its additional flight rights into the country
it, however, was unable to actualise its own part of the agreement.
Remarkably, the Senate Committee on Aviation had recently ordered
the Ministry of Aviation to recover N2.198bn ($14.8 million) from Lufthansa
being amount not paid by the airline since 2009 when the agreement came into
being.
What finally moved the Ministry of Aviation to terminate the
agreement, it was learnt, was a memo from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
to the minister which detailed the failures of Lufthansa.
The memo read in part: "Having carefully analysed the submission,
it was clear that Lufthansa appeared to be the only beneficiary of the MoU as
the implementation of the agreement which was planned in phases was yet to
progress beyond the traffic rights granted to Lufthansa to operate daily
flights from Frankfurt to Abuja.There is no evidence to show any serious
commitment on the part of Lufthansa airlines to the realization of the
agreement."
Besides NCAA, theNigerianCollegeof Aviation Technology,Zariawhich
was to benefit from the agreement also made known to the minister that only one
of its personnel got the opportunity to benefit from Lufthansa's training
programme.
Under the MOU domiciled in the United Kingdom it was learnt that
both parties agreed to waive off claims that may arise upon a mutual agreement
to cancel the agreement.
allafrica.com
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