Thumbs Up to Hadi Sirika!

POLITICAL NOTES

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, was the darling of a majority of Nigerians, both home and away, for the past weeks and deservedly so. For the love of the country, he staved off deliberate diplomatic disrespect to Nigeria’s sovereignty and the dignity of her people, when some ally nations decided to go low and for reasons they concocted badly.

In the heat of the fast spreading Omicron, a new variant of the Covid-19 virus, Canada had closed its borders against Nigeria, because the first set of three infections from the variant discovered in her territory was through individuals, who had travelled from Nigeria. That was a piece of news Nigerians didn’t receive well.

However, while still brooding over that, the United Kingdom, reacting to the growing Omicron variant on her soil, also shut its doors against Nigeria, including suspending the treatment of visa applications by Nigerians for the period it didn’t quite stipulate at the time.

To compound all of these, the hitherto lingering disagreement between Nigeria and the UAE, degenerated, when Nigeria decided to reciprocate the poor treatment meted out to it by Dubai in the aviation sector, clearly disregarding the BASA agreement. All of these at the same time just didn’t sit well with the country and her people. Thus, leadership was desperately needed.

And boom, the minister stepped in and provided the much sought after leadership. Apart from dismissing the UK decision as discriminatory and needless, he spoke tough to the UAE and also intentionally ignored Canada. He proved, with just a few actions, that Nigeria was not to be treated shabbily by anyone, stood his ground where necessary and shifted positions, where he deemed fit.

At the end of the day, Nigerians generally acknowledged his choices in collective interest and efforts designed to ensure that her territorial integrity was not trampled upon. Today, all the issues have been resolved after the initial back and forth, and without tearing down any bilateral ties with those countries. But, the fact remains that, all of those would not have been possible had Sirika not acted promptly. Thumbs up, Mr. Minister!