Claim is Cheap Propaganda
By Dike Onwuamaeze
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Federal government of Nigeria denies claims by Virgin Nigeria that it breached a 2004 contract agreement on local operations
The controversy trailing the order on Virgin Nigeria to relocate its domestic operation from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, to the new local wing, MMA2 assumed a new dimension last week. Virgin Nigeria said its forced relocation was in contravention of an agreement it entered into with the federal government regarding its domestic operations in 2004. But the federal government of Nigeria, has described the airline’s claim that it has a valid contract to operate its local and international flights from a single terminal at the MMIA as a cheap propaganda.
Segun Adeniyi, special adviser to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on communications, said last Monday that the claim being bandied about by the airline has no legal validity. He said: "it is indeed sad that a well-respected global citizen like Branson would now be orchestrating negative media propaganda against Nigeria, which has not breached any agreement with his company."
In his defense of the government’s directive, Adeniyi said that the memorandum of mutual understanding between the FGN and Virgin Atlantic, which embodied the terms of the contract, never mentioned that the airline would carry out its local flights from any of the nation’s international airports. Said he: "The truth is that Virgin has no valid legal claim to operate from the international airport terminals and no amount of propaganda and campaign will work. The management of the airline just has to obey the federal government’s order by moving their local flight operations to where others are operating. It is as simple as that."
Adeniyi traced the genesis of the agreement the airline is claiming to a letter written in 2004 by Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, to Isa Yuguda, Nigeria’s former aviation minister, demanding that his airline be allowed to use relevant international terminals to carry out its international and local flights operations in Nigeria.
The presidential spokesperson clarified that the letter, which was written days after the contract had been signed, was never intended to be part of the agreement. But unfortunately, Yuguda, who is now governor of Bauchi state, endorsed the letter. Adeniyi said that the pertinent question for every one interested in the matter to ask is: "Should a letter written by Branson on Virgin Atlantic letter head be binding on Nigeria even if a former minister endorsed it?
"Why was the issue not part of the memorandum of understanding signed by all the parties? Is that the way business transactions are conducted with nations; that a company’s chief executive would, after publicly signing a memorandum of understanding with a government, now write a personal letter on his company letter head and expect any self respecting nation to take that as a binding contract just because he got somebody to append his signature to it?" But "the truth is that virgin has no valid legal claims," Adeniyi answered.
The FGN was forced into making this clarification after Branson had gone to town with the story that the forceful eviction of the domestic flight operation of his airline from MMIA by the government ran against the face of the contract the airline had with it. Branson expressed dismay, that certain authorities in Nigeria have chosen to ignore our contract, and resorted to sending in heavies a few months ago to smash up our domestic lounge with sledgehammers, in an attempt to intimidate the airline.
The eviction of the airline followed its unwillingness to adhere to government’s directive to relocate its domestic operations to MMA2 on or before the mid-night of August 11. Government explained that the deadline, which was issued by Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s transport minister, was necessitated by a threat to national security and the need to decongest the MMIA.
Until the government swung the sledgehammer a forth-night ago, Virgin Nigeria which was the only airline operating domestic flight from the MMIA, insisted that it would not relocate from the international arm of the airport. It based its decision on the agreement it reached with the federal government in 2004 which granted it the privilege to conduct its local and international flights from the international airport. The airline also relied on the case it brought before the Court of Appeal, Lagos, against the FGN to ignore the deadline. In a recent statement, the airline’s management said in view of the subsisting court case the deadline would once again test the federal government’s resolve to abide by the rule of law.
"The matter of the relocation of our domestic operations out of the MMAI Ikeja is currently before the court of Appeal for its consideration and has been slated for hearing on the October 7, 2008 at the court of appeal, Lagos and is therefore subjudice…We are working in line with the stated policy of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which says that the rule of law will always prevail," the management said.
The statement further claimed that all parties to the case had been notified by the court and warned that any attempt by the FGN to carry out its threat would be premature. It added that because of the subsisting case in court, Virgin Nigeria had not taken any definitive step to move out of the MMIA.
The airline said that inasmuch as it appreciated the government’s intention in demanding the relocation of its domestic operations out of MMIA, the government should also be mindful of the 2004 agreement which was signed by Isa Yaguda, former aviation minister. Apart from allowing the airline to operate all its flights from MMIA, the agreement also required Virgin Nigeria to create an aviation hub in the airport.
A source close to the airline told Newswatch that Virgin Nigeria has invested N120 billion toward the realisation of the hub in the last four years. Major areas of investment include aircraft acquisition, human capital development and the construction of feeder route for local and West Africa regional flights.
In spite of the controversy that trailed the directive, Virgin Nigeria has dropped its hardline stance and relocated its domestic operations to MMA2. When Newswatch visited the MMA2 last Wednesday, Virgin Nigeria’s sales and reservation points were busy dispensing tickets to passengers. Newswatch's attempt to obtain the views of the station manager on how the airline was settling down was unsuccessful. The magazine was told that the manager’s office was yet to be moved to MMA2 as the relocation had not been completed.
However, most of the airline’s passengers who spoke to Newswatch said they preferred MMA2 to the international airport. Vivian Okoro told Newswatch that MMA2 is more suitable because it is calmer and better organised. She said that the relocation would enable air travellers on local routes to know which airport to patronise. Likewise, Aliyu Ndagi said he preferred the domestic wing to MMAI because of the availability of easy access to alternative airlines when one’s preferred airline is not available.
Duke Joseph who was unaware of the relocation until the morning of Wednesday, August 20, told Newswatch that he had earlier chartered a taxi at the cost of N3, 000 to MMIA to board a Virgin Nigeria flight to Calabar only to be re-directed to MMA2. The drive to the domestic airport cost him an additional N2, 000. In spite of this experience, Joseph took the relocation philosophically as part of the changes to be expected in a world where nothing is permanent.
For Fatusin Felix, there is nothing wrong with the relocation if the reasons adduced by the government were genuine. He, however, expressed a preference to an aviation hub where passengers on international route can seamlessly switch flights to domestic routes without having to walk out from the international airport.
Alex Van Elk, chief executive officer of MMA2, told Newswatch that the airport has enough facilities to host Virgin Nigeria and help the airline to carry out its activities in the Ikeja domestic airport. The CEO said he was confident that Virgin’s passengers would definitely find MMA2 a suitable airport to route their travels.
|
