NIGERIA - WORLD AIRWAYS, CATEGORY ONE AND SECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 000507

SIPDIS


DAKAR FOR FAA; BRUSSELS FOR FAA AND TSA


E.O. 12958: DECL: 10 March 2013
TAGS: PREL MASS EAIR NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA - WORLD AIRWAYS, CATEGORY ONE AND SECTION
557

Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter. Reason: 1.5(b).



1. (C) President Obasanjo convoked Ambassador to his
residence Sunday evening, March. DCM accompanied. After
the President had finished his agenda (captioned septel,
notal),the Ambassador briefed him on Section 557 and
raised two civil aviation concerns.



2. (C) Ambassador Jeter had briefed MoD Danjuma March 7 on
the Congressionally mandated suspension of FY-03 Nigeria
IMET and FMF programs and wondered if Danjuma had reported
to the President. Obasanjo said Danjuma had poked his head
into the office on Friday to say he was back from sick
leave; they did not, however, hold a discussion. The
Ambassador explained that there was a new development on
Benue, a Congressionally mandated provision. Section 557
precluded expenditure of new (FY-03) money on IMET but
would not impact pipeline FMF projects, including the C-130
program, Buoy tenders, and the simulation center. Obasanjo
sighed and said: "You have your troubles with legislators
too." Ambassador explained that the legislator concerned
took human rights issues very seriously, and although $8.7
million remained in ongoing programs, this cost to Nigeria
could be ratched up if the Benue issue were not resolved.



3. (C) The Ambassador then raised World Airways'
application to operate air service to Nigeria, noting that
World was a fully-qualified carrier certified by the U.S.
Department of Transportation and that there should be no
issue. Obasanjo agreed and asked what the problem was.
The Ambassador replied that there appeared to be a conflict
between the Minister of Aviation and the travel agency
marketing the tickets, RiteTime. Obasanjo then said the
solution was for World to find a different marketer.
COMMENT: The Embassy is not privy to the details of
World's $22 million contract with RiteTime, but we believe
that Obasanjo's solution may not be viable. RiteTime, not
World Airways, is the deal-maker in this venture and is
assuming the majority of the risk involved, including the
payment of a $250,000 advance to World Airways. Based on
our conversations with World Airways officials last week,
without RiteTime, World Airways will not fly to Nigeria.
END COMMENT.



4. (C) The Ambassador advised President Obasanjo that there
was one more bit of information that he need to pass along:
(Obasanjo joked saying that the Ambassador initially
indicated that there were only two issues that he wanted to
raise). The effort to gain Category I certification for
Nigeria was at risk because the independence of NCAA
(Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority) from the Ministry of
Aviation was not assured. The draft legislation stipulated
that the Minister "may" give NCAA independence; the
operative verb needed to be "shall." Obasanjo said "may"
would become "shall" if he could make the change. COMMENT:
The legislation in question has not yet passed the National
Assembly, so the President can probably have it changed.
The problem is that Minister Chikwe does not want to give
NCAA independence, because lack of jurisdiction over NCAA
will significantly weaken her authority. We hope Obasanjo
will hold the line. END COMMENT.
JETER