Aviation: Buhari ratifies Beijing, Montreal protocols

President Muhammadu Buhari has ratified the Protocol to Amend the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (Hague Convention of 1971) (Beijing Protocol 2010).

Similarly, he has ratified the Protocol to Amend the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation (The Montreal Convention of 1971) (Beijing Protocol 2010).

A statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), said the instruments were ratified by President Buhari on November 22, 2019.

It noted that according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the Beijing Protocol supplements the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, done at The Hague on 16 December 1970 (The Hague Convention, 1970).

To this end, the Protocol expands the scope of The Hague Convention to cover different forms of aircraft hijackings, including through modern technological means.

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President Buhari also ratified the Protocol to Amend the Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft (Montreal Protocol 2014) as well as the protocol to Amend Article (50a) and Article 56 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention of December 1944) (Montreal Protocol 2016).

Buharialso ratified the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The presidency statement said with the execution of these Instruments, it is expected that Nigeria’s aviation links with the UAE will improve significantly.

The Federal Executive Council had at its meetings of October 16, 2019, approved the ratification and the preparation of the requisite Instruments of the Ratification of the aforementioned treaties and conventions.