Ikeja – The Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, said the the issue on Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Britain, was  about respecting  the spirit and letter of  an agreement.

Oduah, in a statement made available on Sunday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja (MMAI), said the issue was not about Arik Air as a courier service.

The statement signed by the minister’s spokesman, Mr Joseph Obi, said, however, that  Arik had not been fairly treated by denying it its slots from Abuja into London Heathrow Airport.

“The main issue at stake here is not about Arik but the need to respect the spirit and letter of BASA agreement which is predicated on the principles of equity, fairness and reciprocity.

“As the controversy surrounding the British Airway’s slot into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport rages, it becomes imperative to make certain clarifications, because it is currently being muddled up for various inexplicable reasons,’’ Oduah said.

She pointed out that those who argued that Arik’s fate was a consequence of the independent and commercial decision of Airport Co-ordination Ltd. (ACL), missed the point.

The ACL is in charge of slot allocation into Heathrow.

According to her, the British authorities are under obligation, as far as BASA is concerned, to ensure that independent and commercial decisions taken by their corporate citizens, do not infringe on bilateral agreements.

She said the Federal Government would not stand by and watch while Nigerian flag carriers were being unfairly treated under BASA agreement.

According to her, allowing this will mean setting an undesirable precedent that will violate the rights and privileges of Nigerian airlines by independent business concerns in other countries.

“It is Arik today; it can be another Nigerian flag carrier tomorrow. Our position is whether Arik or another Nigerian airline, the reciprocal cornerstone of BASA must be maintained.

“The Nigerian government is not about to shirk its responsibility to protect its corporate citizens whose rights are surreptitiously being violated under different guises,’’ the minister noted.

She, however, said that discussions between the relevant Nigerian and British authorities are ongoing with a view to resolving the imbroglio in a mutually satisfactory manner.

It will be recalled that Arik Air complained to the Nigerian government of being denied landing into Heathrow Airport by the British authority, which made the government to decide to reduce BA’s slot into MMIA.

The BA flight reduction takes effect from Nov. 15. (NAN)