The Nigerian Aviation Minister, Hardi Sariki, sounded tough and audacious in his voice recorded message, which went viral on the social media over the weekend, on the reciprocal and retaliatory ban on the number of flights to be undertaken by the Emirates Airline to Nigeria base on the two country’s Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA). His reaction was ostensibly to put the world on notice, of the new impetus of some Nigerian officials to stem the awkward and disrespectful treatment of sovereign African countries, particularly, Nigeria. Recall that Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK) were quick to ban flights from South Africa and Nigeria at the immediate onset of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 pandemic.
The situation became further exacerbated , when the UK, a major trading, tourism, medical and education partner and destination for many Nigerians over the years, placed Nigeria on the Red List of countries. Then suddenly, due to reasons best known to the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (speculations are rift that it could be as a result of several fake Covid-19 certificates presented by travelers from Nigeria)
While most Nigerians, including my humble self, with limited insider information, hailed and commended the Aviation Minister, for his bold stand on the diplomatic face off between Nigeria and the UAE, another, angle to the entire bilateral imbroglio, worth considering is the medium to long term economic repercussions on both countries, especially, the two major Emirati Airlines, Emirates and Etihad. Irrespective of how financially liquid these Airlines and the UAE are, there are bound to be some measure of economic consequences that would impact on them as a result of the restrictions placed on the Airlines by the Nigeria authorities.
Now, examining an interesting aspect of this whole diplomatic brouhaha with UAE, a seemingly liberal and tolerating haven for money laundering as a result of their liberal and tolerant banking system, which allows the inflow of huge sums of foreign currencies by foreigners, without in-depth KYC, especially from Nigerian political and business leaders. Furthermore, a major Asset of the money laundering outlet, is the booming and expansive real estate market, in Dubai which is patronized by Nigerians.
It is estimated that some Nigerian political and corporate leaders may have laundered and stashed away, amounts, ranging between $10-20 billion in Dubai banks and real estate market in the last 10 years.
What would be the consequences, should the UAE government decide to 1) publish a list of the owners of these bank accounts and properties in the UAE? 2) decide to put a lien or confiscate the stolen funds that rightly belong to Nigerians.
Meanwhile, Nigerians are eagerly waiting for the music that the Aviation Minister started to play, to continue to play on. There is always a positive side to what might seem an adverse situation. The ban, on the Emirates and Etihad flights in and out of Nigeria, may after all be short lived, if and when the Nigerian authorities finally absorb and realize the likely consequences of picking a fight with UAE- the custodian of their loot and our stolen commonwealth.
For now, for those who have never listened to the prophetic Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s song “Rere Run Rere Run”, please go Google/YouTube, relax and enjoy the possible outcome of Nigeria-UAE, Rere Run.
Note: Iroche is a seasoned Finance Executive with over thirty years’ experience in Banking, Power and Public Service. He has served on various boards such as the International Glass Industries Limited and GTBank Sierra Leone.
