As the air transport industry gears up for the implementation of the long awaited Single African Air Transport Market, (SAATM), Nigeria’s Minister of State, Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika said the country is committed to the full implementation of the policy.
The Single African Air Transport Market a brain child of the African Union was sculpted in 1988 and is expected to come into full implementation in January 2018.
According to atqnews.com, the legal framework for the management of migration and mobility to promote regional integration is due for adoption by the African Union Summit and will be inaugurated on Friday in Addis Ababa.
In his New Year’s message African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat confirmed that, “ The Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment has been elaborated.”
According to Mahamat the Single African Air Transport Market, an Agenda 2063 flagship project will be launched on the margins of the African Union Summit. “Twenty-three Member States have pledged their solemn commitment to the Single Air Market, the implementation of which will increase the number of routes, reduce the cost of air travel and contribute to the expansion of intra-African trade and tourism. I call on all Member States that have not yet done so to join this important initiative.” He added.
According to a report by pmnewsnigeria.com, Nigeria’s Minister of State, for Aviation, gave the assurance of the country’s commitment to the full implementation of the SAATM on Tuesday at a sensitisation workshop on SAATM in Lagos.
The workshop which has as theme:“ SAATM Implementation :It’s Impact on the Nigerian Aviation Industry and National Economy,” was organised by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Sirika, who was represented by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, noted that the SAATM, would be inaugurated during the AUC meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to him, Africa must leverage on the immense potential offered by SAATM and the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) to enhance traffic connectivity and significant growth in passengers volumes over the next few years.
“We must all therefore strive to commit to the full implementation and operationalisation of SAATM, we need to leap forward so as to become an effective global competitor in aviation.
“In this regard, Nigeria being one of the pioneer Member States signatories to YD, is one of the 23 states that have so far made solemn commitment to the implementation of SAATM by 2018.
“We have constituted a National implementation committee to review all the subsisting Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) to be in consonance with the YD while the process of domesticating the decision is currently at the advance stage.
“Nigeria recognises the need to provide for enhanced traffic growth that will be an offshoot of the full operationalisation of SAATM,” he said.
The minister said currently, some of the International airports were being expanded with the addition of new terminal.
He said the government had also approved the concession of the major international airports in its efforts to reposition them for better service delivery.
“Ladies and gentlemen at this juncture, I will like to reiterate the importance of working together towards achieving the AU agenda 2063 in the area of Air transportation integration (Full Implementation of SAATM).
“This will boost inter-Africa trade, tourism, infrastructural developments and other socio-economic benefits for our sub-region,” Sirika said.
Also, the Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, said the importance of SAATM to African aviation cannot be over-emphasised.
“Thus, it is imperative that we organise this sensitisation workshop to intensify awareness campaign among the critical stakeholders on the impact as well as benefits of SAATM on the industry and national economy.
“In this regard, I wish to enjoin all stakeholders to come together to improve the aviation support base in Nigeria and embrace as well as harness the opportunities that SAATM offers,”Usman said.
In order to move the continent forward towards the concrete implementation of the AU Agenda 2063, the 24th Assembly of Head of States and Government, which took place between Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, adopted the Declaration on the Establishment of a SAATM.
Eleven African Member States championed the Declaration by signing the Solemn Commitment to actualise the Yamoussoukro Decision creating the single market.
These Member States were constituted as a Ministerial Working Group with the responsibility to follow-up implementation progress, provide guidance, and spearhead the advocacy campaign to urge more Member States to join the single market.
In May 2016, the AUC wrote to those States that have signed the Solemn Commitment to highlight a number of concrete measures for them to undertake to initiate operationalisation of the single air transport market in the continent as soon as possible.
Among these measures, each State is required to officially publish in accordance with its national regulations or gazette that they are committed to the immediate implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision under the terms of the Declaration of Solemn Commitment in line with the AU Agenda 2063.
The AUC also requested the States to report on actions taken in implementing the outlined measures as indicated in the letter.
Meanwhile, airline operators in the country have strongly kicked against the implementation of the YD, noting that the move by the African body will utterly erase the existence of Nigerian carriers.
According to Nigerianflightdeck.com, Chairman Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Captain Noggie Meggison said the airlines were not carried along by the African government as they have went ahead to sign off on the declaration’s implementation without putting in place facilities to aid domestic airlines to compete.
Meggison questioned if the country was actually ready for the intra-African open skies and what the benefits are especially since the AON feels the playing field is not level and is skewed against Nigerian carriers with regards to how their neighbours tax and charge them.
Chief Executive of WestLink Airline, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia commended the idea of open skies but stated that the airlines needed more preparation to be part of the /and benefit from the single air transport market.
However, Secretary General of the African Civil Aviation Council (AFCAC), Ms Iyabo Sosina who reacted to the statements of the AON stated that the position of the airline body had not changed in over 20years and respectfully added that the issues the airlines mentioned were purely domestic issues and had nothing to do the the YD.
Ms Iyabo Sosina explained that protectionism of local market share is not the way forward and that Africa needed to open its airspace within the continent.
On benefits she stated the the YD will provide African airlines commercial freedom, wider networks, better aircraft utilization and create a larger market share for the continent and improved access to capital as well as more flexible commercial arrangements such as alliances, codeshares, franchises, interlining, mergers and acquisitions among African carriers.
“As we are aware, the better connected a country is by air, the greater its ability to unlock the economic and social benefits that air transport can deliver through mobility of people and goods to the traveling public, air carriers, airports, other allied service providers, the economy of member states and the continent as a whole.”
