DECEMBER 07, 2021

The United Kingdom’s imposition of flight restrictions on Nigerians and other nationals will cost British Airways over 2000 flights in the next three months.

The flights have been removed from the schedule, with the UK bringing back PCR testing for all, leading many to cancel or amend travel plans.

As of yesterday, Nigerian citizens have been banned from entering the United Kingdom. UK’s Secretary of State for Health, Sajid Javid, earlier announced that Nigeria has been added to the red list as part of measures to stem importation of the Omicron variant into the country.

While things are generally getting better for the aviation industry, airlines continue to suffer from the impact of snap decisions causing uncertainty around future planning. Stricter rules mean a drop in demand for travel, with little to no warning usually given about changes to the rules.

According to flight data experts Cirium, British Airways has cut over 2,000 flights from its schedule up to and including March. January was the single worst hit month with 1,146-flight reduction in scheduled flights week-on-week. The airline trimmed 545 flights from the schedule in December, 210 in February, and 243 in March, giving a total flight reduction of 2,144 flights over the four months.

The worst affected destinations during January vastly differ in length from domestic hops, all the way to transcontinental treks. Thirty one rotations have been cancelled from Belfast to Glasgow and Birmingham. Meanwhile, flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg and Cape Town have also dropped by 31 services in response to the UK government re-establishing the red list. This includes postponing the Airbus A380’s return to South Africa.

Just two routes saw an increase in scheduled flights during January 2022. The route between London and Cairo will see 12 additional rotations, increasing it to twice daily across the month. Meanwhile, British Airways has also added four further rotations on its mammoth trek from London Heathrow to Santiago in Chile.

While it may seem pretty doom and gloom that British Airways has cut its upcoming schedule following the rule change, the airline actually remains in a far better position than a year ago.

According to the plan as of Friday, the programme is significantly beefier than a year ago, with February 2022 sitting over 600 per cent higher than the same month this year. There are 18,810 flights planned for February 2022, compared to just 2,669 this year.

The other months affected by schedule cuts in the past week also sit significantly above the previous year. December has the lowest year-on-year increase from 6,709 to 16,672, an increase of roughly 150 per cent.

While it seems relatively implausible that British Airways will be forced to cut as many flights again this winter, it is possible that the UK could continue to enforce more rules and bolster the red list in response to the perceived threat of the Omicron variant.

DECEMBER 08, 2021

The African Union on Tuesday called for an urgent end to travel restrictions imposed on some of its member states, saying the measures effectively penalize governments for timely data sharing in line with international health regulations.

The measures act “as a disincentive for information sharing in the future, potentially posing a threat to health security on the continent and globally,” the AU said in a statement.

Late last month, European Union states, the United States, and Britain, among other nations such as Israel, imposed travel curbs on seven southern African countries after they reported several cases of the Omicron variant, which is considered highly infectious. (Reuters/NAN)

DECEMBER 09, 2021

Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige has said the construction of the multi-billion naira Second Niger Bridge has reached 80 percent completion.

Ngige, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), named the bridge among the five legacy projects to be bequeathed to the country by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The former Anambra State governor spoke yesterday as a guest on Channels Television Programme ‘Political Paradigm’.

According to him, the other legacy projects of the current administration are Lagos-Ibadan-Ilorin-Kaduna road, East West Road, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road and the Mambilla Project.

The minister, who blamed APC’s defeat in the last Anambra Governorship election on the controversial primaries that produced the party’s flag-bearer, allayed fears that the setback would affect the ruling party in the Southeast during the 2023 general elections.

Ngige added that the Second Niger Bridge had been a campaign item for successive presidents of Nigeria from 1999, starting from President Olusegun Obasanjo until President Buhari came to power.

He said: “When President Buhari came in 2015, I campaigned with him all over the Southeast zone and even beyond as the zonal campaign coordinator, from Abakiliki to Aba, Akwa Ibom, Uyo, Awka and Enugu. In these places we talked about the Second Niger Bridge.

“That Bridge has been built. It is now at 80 percent completion. Before it was being built by Public Private Partnership (PPP), but now, it is being built from the Sovereign Wealth Fund as one of the five legacy projects that this President is leaving for the country.

“The South Easterners have seen that the Second Niger Bridge is being done. He (Buhari) has completed the Zik’s Masoleum. Many Nigerians don’t even know that President Buhari is a Zikist. I know because we had visited Zik’s son, Chukwuma (now late) who was his friend. We visited that tomb before he was elected president.”

On why the feeling of marginalisation still thrives in the Southeast, Ngige noted that the people of the zone love appointments and felt that the President did not treat them well in that area.

He explained that the President felt he could empower and make the people of the Southeast happy through giving them fertilizer plant in Ebonyi State and extending credit and grants to farmers in Ebonyi, Imo, and farming areas of Anambra State.

Ngige added: “But these are people who love appointments. They know and I say it to them. We have seen presidents appoint people from their zones or even other zones for a four-year term. They come and go. We had plenty of appointments during Obasanjo and Jonathan administrations. When I say it, some people are not happy.

“For example, the Enugu Airport has suffered dilapidation over the years but we had four Aviation ministers, namely, Kema Chikwe, Fidelia Njeze, Osita Chidoka and Stella Oduah. How come that airport remained dilapidated while they were in office? The tarmac was pronounced as the worst in the whole of Nigeria by an Ethiopian Pilot who flew us one day.”

DECEMBER 09, 2021

By Murtala Adewale, Kano

•  WHO: Omicron reported in 57 countries, hospitalisations to rise
•  Different, tougher variant of Omicron spotted in South Africa, Australia, Canada

The Saudi Arabia authority was the latest country to slam its doors against Nigeria as it, yesterday, suspended all flight operations coming from Nigeria into the kingdom over the outbreak of Omicron variant of COVID-19.

An official statement issued by Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) directed to all airports and private aviation operators in the Kingdom ordered suspension of all flight coming “directly or indirectly” from Nigeria.

Incidentally, Saudi came with the restriction order barely seven days after the country recorded her index case of Omicron from a passenger returning from North Africa into the country.

The statement said: “The Kingdom is suspending all incoming flights and entry for non-nationals coming directly or indirectly from Nigeria, except those who have spent a period of not less than 14 days in another country from which they are allowed to come.

“Home quarantine will be applied for a period of five days to Saudi citizens coming from the mentioned country, provided PCR examination on the first day and the fifth day, regardless of immunisation status, turns negative.  

“Failure to comply with the circular issued by GACA is an explicit violation of government’s orders. Legal procedures shall be initiated against violators who will be held responsible.”

A source from the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), who confirmed the suspension of passengers coming into the Kingdom from Nigeria, said NAHCON is still expecting official communication from Saudi authority regarding the new travel restriction. The Commission, however, insisted that the measure would not hamper its preparation for 2022 Hajj.

Meanwhile, the suspension of passengers into Saudi Arabia will hamper thousands of Nigerians who have already made preparations, including payment, to perform lesser Hajj.

A source from Azman Airline revealed that over 400 passengers who are set to depart Nigeria on Sunday for lesser Hajj would be left stranded by the restriction order.

The source told The Guardian that the local airline may be compelled to refund over N160 million air ticket fare to passengers whose journey to the holy land has been abruptly aborted.

“The sudden notice will cause the airline a lot of economic loss. While our flight scheduled to depart on Sunday has been aborted, we have similar number of passengers returning home from Saudi.

“While the airline is restricted from taking passengers, it is allowed to come with empty large body aircraft to ferry our passengers back to Nigeria. This will cost about N30 million to fuel the aircraft. It is really a huge loss,” he lamented.

Vice President, National Travel Agency of Nigeria (NATAN), Northern zone, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Ibrahim, told The Guardian that over 600 members of the association would suffer huge losses to the Kingdom’s action.

He said the order came when the association with over 400 subscribers in Kano State alone, have invested huge amount on passengers’ airlines, visa and accommodation ahead of the lesser Hajj at the holy land.

Though Abdulrazaq regretted that the action is coming when members were just recovering from major economic crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, which saw the cancellation of Hajj, he hoped the suspension would not last longer than necessary.

President Muhammadu Buhari had last month performed the Umrah (lesser Hajj) at Makkah, Saudi Arabia, while on a trip to the country for the Future Investment Initiative Summit.

Recall that earlier in the year (June), Saudi Arabia had cancelled hajj for all foreign pilgrims. NAHCON had decribed it then as an act of God.

A statement by the Head, Public Affairs, Hajia Fatima Sanda Usara, had said no matter how painful the cancellation was, the commission respects the decision of Saudi Arabia and have accepted it as Allah’s divine design.

ALREADY, the Omicron variant has been reported in 57 countries and the number of patients needing hospitalisation is likely to rise as it spreads, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.

WHO, in its weekly epidemiological report, said more data was needed to assess the severity of disease caused by the Omicron variant and whether its mutations might reduce protection from vaccine-derived immunity.

“Even if the severity is equal or potentially even lower than the Delta variant, it is expected that hospitalisations will increase if more people become infected and there will be a time lag between an increase in the incidence of cases and an increase in the incidence of deaths,” it said.

On November 26, WHO declared the Omicron variant, which was first detected in southern Africa, a variant of concern. It is the fifth SARS-CoV-2 strain to carry such a designation.

Referring to the risk of re-infection, WHO said: “Preliminary analysis suggests that the mutations present in the Omicron variant may reduce neutralising activity of antibodies resulting in reduced protection from natural immunity.”

AMID the increasing cases of the new variant rapidly sweeping the world, a ‘sister’ lineage of Omicron has been detected by scientists.

Experts who detected the strain said it is genetically similar to the super-mutant causing chaos in South Africa. But one key difference of the Omicron-like sub-variant is that it is missing a genetic quirk that allows officials to quickly track its spread.

Virologists said the version, currently called BA.2, has already been identified in South Africa, Australia and Canada, suggesting it is already spreading in other countries. However, no firm details about the near-identical strain are known – and its true origin remains a mystery.

Australian officials raised the alarm about BA.2 on Tuesday night, saying it was the ‘first in the world.’ It was spotted in a South African man who returned from the country’s Omicron ground zero of Gauteng.

Preliminary analysis suggests it contains its own set of mutations as well as many found in the original Omicron.
In theory, it means BA.2, as the original Omicron, could also be more transmissible than Delta, and possibly able to dodge vaccines.   

However, no concrete evidence has yet been published, with BA.2 only thrown into the public spotlight yesterday.

While information is still emerging, one key difference of the Omicron-like lineage is that it can’t be detected almost immediately.

Known as the S gene dropout, this aspect of the original Omicron means it can be detected using a PCR test, as opposed to a more complicated lab analysis.

The fact that BA.2 does not have this S gene dropout means this shortcut cannot be used and is thus harder to track as an outbreak.

Australia’s Health Minister, Yvette D’Ath, confirmed the case in a press conference. “We are standing here announcing a new version of Omicron and it’s a first in the world,” she said

DECEMBER 09, 2021

The federal government has blamed the prevailing insecurity in the country for the nation’s fall from the top 10 of preferred investment destinations in Africa. 

A report emerged this week showing that Nigeria dropped to 14 as Egypt continues to top Africa’s investment destinations in a ranking carried out by RMB, a division of FirstRand Bank Limited. 

Reacting to the development Thursday at a news briefing at the State House, Abuja, Minister of Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, said several factors including the level of insecurity were responsible for the drop in Nigeria’s rating. 

Commenting on what is responsible for the fall, the Minister said: “the reasons for that are various, the major line being the security problem that we have in the country. “You are well aware, the federal government is making every effort to resolve the security problem so that we will go back to the position of being the preferred investment destination”.

Details Later…

DECEMBER 09, 2021

The Saudi Arabian government has suspended all incoming flights and entry to the Kingdom for non Saudi nationals coming directly or indirectly from Nigeria over fears of Omicron variant of coronavirus, which had been reported in Nigeria and several other countries around the world.

A circular by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to all airlines operating in the airports of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including private aviation, announced the suspension of flights coming from and to Nigeria.

The circular dated December 8, 2021 with the subject: ‘Suspension of flights coming from and to the Federal Republic of Nigeria’, however exempted non-nationals, who had spent a period of no less than 14 days in another country from which they are allowed to come to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Arabian government also stipulated home quarantine for a period of five days for Saudi citizens coming from Nigeria, who must undertake PCR examination on the first day and the fifth day.

The GACA circular said failure to comply with the instruction was an explicit violation of government orders, warning that legal procedures would be initiated against violators.

Nigeria has a large Muslim population which embarks on pilgrimage to the Kingdom’s  holy sites in Mecca and Medina annually in observance of the pillars of Islam. Some affluent Nigerian Muslims also visit the Kingdom frequently for lesser hajj

DECEMBER 09, 2021

BY  Hope Moses-Ashike 

Christmas shopping in Dubai drives demand for dollar   Exchange rate, which crashed to N540 by the second week of November 2021, has spiked again to an average of N569 per dollar in the open market as of Wednesday.

Christmas shopping in Dubai occasioned by Emirates Airline resumption of flight between Dubai and Nigeria is now driving demand for the dollar despite selling off of hoarded foreign exchange (FX) by speculators, BusinessDay findings show.

Calculations based on information provided by one of the travel agencies show that 6,860 people travel to and fro Dubai weekly.

Exchange rate, which crashed to N540 by the second week of November 2021, has spiked again to an average of N569 per dollar in the open market as of Wednesday.

One of the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators who pleaded anonymity said a lot of Nigerian importers go to China and other Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Turkey, the Middle East among others for business transactions.

“People are still buying dollar in the parallel market. They cannot stop buying dollar unless there’s a significant reduction in importation,” Andrews Elueni, managing director, Flawless Capital Limited, told BusinessDay on Wednesday.

Read Also: Increased dollar demand triggers new Naira fall

Elueni, who has a demand of $50,000 to meet on behalf of a client for a refinery licence said he could not secure such an amount from the banks as they said it was beyond their capacity following the rules by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

On July 28, Nigeria’s Central Bank stopped selling hard currency to the Bureaus De Change (BDC) operators. New BDC licences were also suspended and the CBN instead channelled the sale of foreign exchange for legitimate needs only to commercial banks.

Such legitimate needs include Business Travel Allowance (BTA), Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), school fees and medicals.

“My position is it is not just to restrict sales of dollar to the BDCs but the government should reduce importation and encourage exports.”

He was concerned that a lot of people depend on importation of food supply as Boko Haram and insurgence have hampered production of farm produce by farmers, leading to demand for foreign exchange.

He also noted that some government officials purchase dollars that they are not able to consume, but come back and sell at the unofficial market.

Nigeria’s trade balance worsened in the third quarter of 2021 as imports surged and the trade deficit hit N3.02 trillion, according to the latest foreign trade report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On dollar inflows, the BDC operator said supply is not commensurate with demand as some people who go to the banks to purchase dollars could not get due to documentation issues.

The operator admitted that inflows come into the country but not as expected. The operator disclosed that there are some inflow markets abroad which a lot of people do not know about.

Some importers who could not get enough dollar supply patronise such inflows abroad at a very high cost, he said. The CBN limits the amount of dollar purchase for PTA to $4,000 and BTA for $5,000 quarterly.

Nigeria’s currency registered marginal depreciation in all the market segments, reflecting the effects of the previous month’s policy on the stoppage of sales to BDCs and the perceived supply shortages. The naira depreciated by 1 0.03 percent at the I&E windows, in August 2021, according to the latest economic report of the CBN.

Available data from the CBN show that the average foreign exchange turnover at the investors and exporters’ window was $126.18 million in August 2021 indicating a decline of 24.1 percent, compared to $166.16 million in July.

DECEMBER 09, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- Fevered demand for Manhattan apartments sent rents soaring the most on record in November, even without a mass return to the office. 

The median rent jumped 23% from a year earlier to $3,369, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. It was the biggest increase in a decade of record-keeping, though the median is still 3.8% below where it was in November 2019, before the pandemic. 

Apartment hunters are scouring for whatever deals remain in a market that’s been whittling down a mountain of inventory. Those still largely working from home are growing tired of being far from the city’s cultural institutions and nightlife, even as offices remain sparsely populated. 

“They just want to get back into the city -- they’ve been away long enough,” said Hal Gavzie, executive manager of leasing for Douglas Elliman. “There’s a kind of fatigue with being out of Manhattan, and missing it.” 

Higher-priced apartments in doorman buildings accounted for much of last month’s rent surge. The median for those fancier homes -- a draw for Manhattan’s white-collar office workforce -- jumped 27% from a year earlier to $4,108. That’s above the November 2019 median of $4,016, the firms said. 

Apartments without doormen, usually lower-frills units popular with people on a budget, are still well below their pre-pandemic rates. The median for such units was $2,584 last month, 12% less than two years earlier. 

DECEMBER 10, 2021

BY Ifeoma Okeke

Arik Air will from Wednesday, December 15, 2021 resume daily flight operations from Lagos to Owerri and Asaba.

Both Owerri and Asaba flights will operate from the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1 otherwise known as General Aviation Terminal (GAT).

Flights from Lagos to Owerri will depart at 7:00 am while the inbound from Owerri will leave Sam Mbakwe Airport at 8:30am. Asaba flights will depart Lagos at 1:30pm while inbound flight leaves Asaba Airport at 3:00pm.

Read also: UK travel ban: Airlines risk N965m daily

The resumption of flights to Owerri and Asaba is to enable customers celebrate the festive season with their family and friends. As a caring airline, Arik Air also wants customers to have a safe and peaceful yuletide.

Similarly, Arik Air is increasing frequency from Lagos to Jos from four weekly flights to daily effective December 15, 2021.

The additional frequencies to Jos is to enable customers to have more choices and connect with their loved ones for the festive season.

Roy Ilegbodu, Arik Air Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are aware that many of our customers in Owerri and Asaba have been yearning for our services. This is why we are resuming flights to these destinations”.

DECEMBER 10, 2021

•Issues of ‘concession within concession’ linger
•It is a work in progress, FAAN spokesperson says

Two years after the delivery date set by the Minister of Aviation, the new terminal for Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, has remained uncompleted with finishing touches stalled in the last three months.

The terminal, though seemingly completed on the outside, has allegedly had its fittings delayed by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) over pending issues on the concession of the entire facility, along with three others in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.

A visit to the terminal recently showed the access bridge and its markings already in place, but with no activity ongoing in the terminal.

In 2018, the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had pledged to commission the terminal by November 2019. Unable to keep the promise, the Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Hamisu Yadudu, last year, shifted the delivery date to the first quarter of 2021. Nine months later, the wait is still on.

The project, though 95 per cent ready, was lately roiled by confusion over move to concession the four main international airports and government’s refusal to clear the air on status of the terminals, and repayment plan of the Chinese loan.

Spokesperson of FAAN, Henrietta Yakubu, however, told The Guardian that work is ongoing on the facility, though could only assure of its completion within the lifespan of this administration.

It would be recalled that FG has since 2017, begun moves to concession all the 22 airports, beginning with the big four in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.

Coincidentally, the big four were beneficiaries of the 2013 $500 million loan deal between Nigeria and China to build four new terminals for the four airports. Abuja and Port Harcourt currently use the new terminals, while those of Lagos and Kano remain uncompleted eight years after.

A coalition of aviation unions and stakeholders has described the “concession within concession” as untidy and not in the best interest of the country. They requested for details of the $500 million loan deal to build the four terminals, especially the add-on plan to concession the same terminals. Government’s response didn’t come their way.

Sources at the CCECC confirmed that work has temporarily stopped on the facility. “I think it has to do with some disagreements. Yes, part of the counterpart funding of $100 million from Nigeria has not been fully paid and the status of the concession too. There is no clear direction on the whole process.”

The General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Ocheme Aba, noted that the conflicting policies of the Federal Government show lack of seriousness about what it wants to do with the airport infrastructure.

Aba said the agreement government had with the Chinese government before it accessed the EXIM Bank loan, was that the contractor would recoup its investment by running the terminals for a time, which is akin to concession.

“Not only has the debt risen from the initial $500 million loan to about $1 billion, but the government seems to be contradicting itself because the principle of the agreement is like a concession. CCECC and the government agreed that the company would have a firm order to receive a particular amount of money every month from the revenues of the terminal to a dedicated account. Although it is a loan repayment, it is like a concession,” Aba said.

Secretary General of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), Group Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd), said there is nothing wrong in getting a loan to execute the project, but for the accompanying conditions.

Ojikutu noted that the major undoing of the new terminal in Lagos was its lack of provisions for aircraft parking space ab initio.

“When the minister said to a forum that the terminal would be opened by November 2019, I reminded him it was not possible if there is no parking space for aircraft around the terminal. Building a parking area for aircraft would require the land areas where some private hangars are built, including the AIB building. These are more of major constraints to the progress on the terminal building than the Chinese loans,” Ojikutu said.