The Federal Government said it
will review its air agreements with various countries as a result of the
unacceptable treatment of Nigerian carriers.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Geoffrey Onyeama, made this known via his verified twitter handle on Sunday
following the denial of landing rights to Air Peace at London’s Heathrow
Airport.
Onyeama, however, urged aggrieved
Nigerians not to protest, but be grateful to Air Peace for providing
alternative arrangements to ensure their successful evacuation in spite of the
challenges.
“Having been allowed to carry out
one very successful evacuation of Nigerians from London at very low fares, Air
Peace in coordination with the Nigerian Government and full knowledge of the UK
authorities scheduled two additional flights.
“All the arrangements were made
including payments, only for the UK authorities to withdraw landing rights
close to departure despite strong representations by the Nigerian Government,
including pointing out the hardship that would be caused to hundreds of
Nigerian evacuees,” he said.
Onyeama said Air Peace could have
just refunded the passengers, but exceptionally, patriotically and altruistically
agreed to find an alternative carrier acceptable to the UK authorities.
This, according to the minister,
Air Peace did to carry out the evacuation a day later than scheduled, but for
much higher fares.
He said these higher fares could
legitimately have been passed on to the evacuees, but Air Peace bore this huge
cost itself.
“This is to let the aggrieved
evacuees know that the objects of their grievance should neither be Air Peace
nor the Nigerian Government.
“They should rather be eternally
grateful to Air Peace.
“The Nigerian Government will
review its Air agreements with various countries as a result of the
unacceptable treatment of Nigerian carriers during this pandemic,” Onyeama
said.
The evacuation of stranded
Nigerians was rescheduled from July 13 to July 14, with the departure airport
changed from Heathrow to Gatwick Airport, London.
This, however, generated an
outcry from some stranded Nigerians who blamed Air Peace Airline and the
Federal Government for the inconveniences.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com