The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has granted Export Development Canada (EDC), a Canadian financial institution the right to repossess and teardown the controversial CRJ1000 aircraft with the registration number: 5N-JEE from the Arik Air’s fleet.
The judgment in suit number FHC/L/CS/1141/ was delivered by Justice Alexander Oluseyi Owoeye.
Capt. Samuel Caulcrick, Captain Isiaka Oyeshina Akinfenwa are the (applicants), while the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is the respondent
A certified true copy of the judgment was sighted by newsmen Friday.
Recall that the minister of aviation and aerospace development Festus Keyamo had Friday, announced in his X handle that Nigeria had recorded the first victory in court courtesy of the Cape town convention.
After the verdicts, stakeholders in the aviation sector have commended the victory.
While handing down his judgment, the court also stopped the men and officers of the respondent (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) from harassing, intimidating, detaining and threatening to arrest the applicants or its contractor over the discharge of their lawful civil obligations to take custody, control and teardown of the aircraft.
“The court appealed the Cape Town Convention (CTC) to the fullest and allowed instant repossession of an aircraft,” the minister stated.
As a way of following to the letter best global practice, Nigeria, last year signed Cape town Convention making it one of the few countries in the world to pioneer the issuance of practice directions by the Federal High Court, which is vested with the constitutional jurisdiction on aviation matters.
Before then, Nigeria had majorly failed to comply with the CTC – a convention that regulates the dry-leasing of aircrafts by major manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus and major lessors across the world, who had perceived Nigeria as a non-compliant country.
The CTC compliance index, according to the minister, shows Nigeria’s substantial non-compliance, which is largely due to legal impediments in the country’ judicial process.
The impediment, according to experts , has an adverse impact on the implementation of and compliance with terms of the convention.
Keyamo stated that speedy reliefs sought by the creditors were not granted within the 10-day declaration made by Nigeria under the convention.
The new practice directions issued by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court were expected to eliminate judicial impediments in the implementation and compliance with the Cape Town Convention.
The Cape Town Convention is expected to significantly enhance the growth of the aviation industry by creating more jobs and promoting the rapid economic development of the aviation industry.
