Meanwhile, Airpeace’s CEO,Allen Oyeama has said that Nigerian airlines are not against open skies, but the implementation must be fair to all concerned, and gave Cote D’Ivoire ten days ultimatum to grant it access to operate in that country or face showdown.
Oyeama’s argument was that while Nigeria opened its aviation sector to almost free access to African countries, other African countries, especially West African countries have continued to deny Nigerian carriers access to their countries, adding that the practice is unhealthy and will be challenged henceforth.
He also said the actions by Cote D’Ivoire and African countries like Togo and Benin Republic, is against the principle of reciprocity contained in the bilateral air services agreements they signed, adding that the sky is too wide to cause conflict among African airlines as Nigeria is the best market for them.
To address this, Adeyemi however stressed that the commission will be going country by country to address some of the challenges of SAATM and see how to make a change. Also, the director general, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority , Capt. Musa Nuhu, stressed the need for countries that have committed to the implementation of SAATM to start implementation so that when other countries see the effect on the GDP and employment generation they will follow suit.