In a historic move, Nigeria has become one of the few countries in the world to pioneer the issuance of practice directions by the federal High court, which vested with the Constitutional Jurisdiction on Aviation matters.
The signing of the practice directions was presided over by the vice-president Kashim Shettima at the meeting of the presidential council of presidential enabling business environment council (PEBC) at the presidential villa, Abuja.
According to a press release signed by Tunde Moshood, the SA, Media and Communications to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Kayamo, one of the main objectives of the minster’s five-point agenda since he assumed office is the support for the growth and sustenance of local airline business whilst holding them to the highest international standard.
In the pursuit of this agenda, the minister was confronted with the lingering problem of the low rate of Nigeria compliance with the Cape Town Convention, which regulate the dry-leasing of aircraft by major aircraft manufacturing such as Boeing and Airbus and major leasers across the world who perceived Nigeria as a non-compliant country.
This led the blacklisting of country by the Aviation working group, Moshood explained, adding, the AWG CTC compliance index shows Nigeria substantial non-compliance, which is largely as a result of legal impediments in the country judicial process which have adverse impact on the implementation and compliance with terms of the convention.
The new practice Direction issued by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court will eliminate judicial impediment in the implementation and compliance with the Cape Town Convention.
As a party to the convention on international Mobile Equipment and the protocol to the convention on International interests in Mobile Equipment on matters specific to Aircraft Equipment which was adopted in Cape Town, South Africa on November 16, 2001 and has been ratified and domesticated in the Civil Aviation Act 2006, as amended in the Civil Aviation Act 2022, Nigeria has the obligation to ensure that its domestic laws and its court and administration bodies give full effects to the CTC and that the timelines and remedies set in the CTC are not varied at the discretion of the courts.
