The commencement of direct flight between Nigeria and the kingdom of Jordan will strengthen business and cultural ties between the two, countries, Nigeria's ambassador to Jordan , Taofeek Oladejo Arapaja has said.
Arapaja who stated
this at the weekend at the flag off of flights by Royal Jordanian
Airlines into Lagos explained that the Federal Government was on the
verge of signing bilateral air services agreement with the a kingdom of
Jordan to ensure that the airline expands its flight beyond Lagos to
other cities including Abuja, Enugu and Kano.
He described the
commence of the twice weekly flight between Lagos and Amman , the
capital of Jordan as evidence of many years of spadework, which he said
will open a window of opportunity to boost trade ties between the two
countries in many areas including, tourism, commerce, education, health
and other mutually beneficial areas.
He said Nigerians
could now take advantage of the opportunity to explore areas of possible
investment in oil and has sector, as well as other avenues to reach out
to the Middle East through direct air link.
The ambassador
said the direct air-link will now reduce travel time and other
inconveniences associated with connecting flights into Jordan, which he
said has not been properly marketed as a business and tour destination.
He said the
hitherto low business transaction between Nigeria and Jordan would
now be accelerated with direct air link, which he described as a
catalyst of socio- economic development.
Arapaja said :"
The signing of the Bilateral air services agreement was on-going, we
even attended the meeting last year in Saudi Arabia .“It is in the pipe
line that after this flight, other flights will go to Enugu, Abuja, to
Kano.
“Though the
agreement has not been signed finally so I think that in the next few
months this will come through .
“There are
business opportunities, they have all these minerals, they have computer
components, they are good in education, most especially in aviation
and piloting, most of our students are there, Kano state government sent
100 students to study there .
“But, because we
don't know much about all these countries we just overlook things, in
fact most of these aircraft you see here, they are serviced there but
not many people know what they can gain from going to Jordan .
“So , in terms of
education too, people go there to read medicine, in the middle east, it
is the number one medical destination. In the world it is the number
five medical destination, they are good in medicine, they are good in so
many areas but if you don't really explore it .
“My message to
Nigerians is that we will do what we can do for Nigerians to go there
and for Jordanese to come here.
“So we want to
encourage Nigerians to take this opportunity of exploring by going to
Jordan to see what they can offer to Nigerians. In fact they are a lot
of tourist attraction in Jordan too."
Also speaking, the
head of media operations, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Mr Bassel Kilani
described the coming of the airline into Nigeria as part of its
expansion strategy to connect West Africa into the Middle East.
He said the
commencement of direct flight would boost trade relations between
Nigeria and Jordan, even as he called on investors to explore the window
to consider areas not limited to oil and gas, culture and spiritual
enrichment.
He said Jordan is
the gateway into the Middle East for passengers undergoing either
Christian to Muslim pilgrimage to Holy Places in both religions.
He said the
commencement of direct flights took over a year of planning , affirming
that the carrier would explore how to secure traffic rights into other
cities in Nigeria.
The Royal
Jordanian Airlines spokesman said the carrier was not in Nigeria to
undermine other carriers, but ready to service the route with offers of
assisting passengers get visas as the best connection into Europe, Asia
Far East and America.
