Emameh Gabriel writes on how Aviation and Aerospace Development Minister, Festus Keyamo, breaks 19 year-old jinx, signs historic West Africa-Caribbean Bilateral Air Services Agreement deal to boost travel, trade, and diaspora ties.
The ink had barely dried on the documents when the significance of the moment became clearer. It was a landmark shift in Afro-Caribbean aviation history that took place earlier this week in the VIP lounge of Piarco International Airport- the signing of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago. This was no mere diplomatic formality; it marked the culmination of 19 years of stalled effort, now revived with a bold promise of progress.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), announced the historic agreement on Monday, following its signing alongside Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Works and Transport, Rohan Sinanan. The foundation for this deal was first laid in 2005, under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, yet for years, the agreement languished in bureaucratic inertia.