US embassy cable - 01ABUJA2415

UNCLAS ABUJA 002415 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR, ASEC, ATRN, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA ON ICAO RESOLUTION AND AVIATION INSURANCE 
 
 
REF: (A) STATE 162488 (B) STATE 163307 (C) STATE 159498 
 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified, please protect accordingly. 
 
 
1.  On September 20 and 21, Econoff delivered Ref A and B 
demarches to Assistant Director M.K. Ibrahim of the 
International Organizations Department, Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and separately to Chief Owodu, Technical Advisor to 
the Minister of Aviation.  Ref C information was delivered 
September 17 to the Ministers of Aviation and Foreign Affairs. 
 
 
2.  Regarding the ICAO resolution (ref A), Ibrahim commented 
that the Secretariat's language was not controversial.  He 
expected that the GON could fully support the resolution, 
although first the proposal would need to go through the 
appropriate channels.  Ministry of Aviation's Chief Owodu 
indicated he would be supportive of an ICAO resolution 
condemning the attacks.  Owodu said that he was leaving 
tomorrow (September 22) for the ICAO General Assembly and 
would review the draft language prior to leaving. 
 
 
3.  On the aviation insurance crisis (ref B), Chief Owodu did 
not believe that Nigeria would be immediately affected by the 
rise in insurance premiums.  The international flights, 
except those within the sub-region, use aircraft owned by 
Nigeria Airways' joint venture partners.  However, he noted, 
for the Lagos-New York flight, Nigeria Airways would need to 
sit down with South Africa Airways and work out how these 
costs might be shared.  Owodu was grateful for the 
information and interested to learn about the options being 
considered in the United States.  Owodu said this information 
would help inform the Ministry on how to approach this issue 
with Nigerian carriers. 
 
 
4.  In response to the information on changes to aviation 
insurance polices, Assistant Director Ibrahim said that he 
had anticipated something like this would happen.  He worried 
that this crisis would be used as an excuse for the EU and 
U.S. to subsidize domestic carriers, complicating 
international discussions on competition policy and trade in 
services. 
Andrews