Federal government has signed the Cape Town Accord on aircraft Lease, 20 years after it came into effect.
The Cape Town Accord was designed to facilitate assets-based financing and leasing of aviation equipment, including aircraft.
It also helps to expand financing opportunities and reduce costs, with the intended economic benefits.
The Cape Town Convention Practice Direction was signed on Thursday by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, during a stakeholders’ meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
With the signing of the CTC Practice Direction, the Cape Town Convention becomes actively and fully operational in Nigeria, thereby reducing the cost of insurance for airlines, restoring investors’ confidence in the nation’s aviation sector and enabling domestic airline operators to dry lease aircraft, among others.
The development followed the Federal Government’s position that no ban was placed on any Nigerian airline by the United States Government.
The acting Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Chris Najomo, said in 2010, Nigeria like other countries attained the permit of category one of the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme and in 2014 as well as 2017 a re-evaluation was done by the US Federal Aviation Administration and Nigeria passed but due to the inability to meet up with the requirements of the permit, Nigeria was de-listed in 2022.
“It is important to clarify here that the de-listing of Nigeria has absolutely nothing to do with any safety or security deficiency in our oversight system. Nigeria has undergone comprehensive ICAO Safety and Security Audits and recorded no Significant Safety Concern (SSC) or Significant Security Concern (SSeC) respectively.
“It is furthermore necessary to add that a Nigerian operator can still operate into the U.S. using an aircraft wet-leased from a country who has a current Category One status.
“The NCAA continues to adhere strictly to international safety and security standards and respects the sovereignty of States, including the United States of America, as enshrined in Article One of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. This provision gives States complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above their territories,” he said.