By Ime Akpan
Lagos
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema, has challenged Nigerian lawyers to take advantage of the boundless opportunities in the aviation sector.
Speaking in Lagos at the Nigerian Bar Association-Section on Business Law, Aviation Committee Conference tagged: “Unlocking the Potential of Aviation Law and Practice in Nigeria”, Onyema said most of Nigerian lawyers lack knowledge of aviation law and urged young lawyers to take special interest in aviation law to ensure the sector is properly served.
The airline operator, who was one of the discussants of the topic of the second session of the conference, ‘The Scope of Legal Practice in Nigeria’s Aviation Sector: Creating Opportunities for Lawyers’ said only a handful of lawyers could properly handle aviation briefs.
“We are not there. We need to tell ourselves the truth. Look at consumer rights. I am talking from the position of both a lawyer and an airline operator. When some lawyers write you on behalf of their clients, saying ‘Air Peace did this, Air Peace did that’, you will weep. Sometimes I pick up the phone and call the lawyer and say, ‘What have you just done? You’re not representing your client well. Did you ask your client questions?” Sometimes they even cite non-existent conventions…There are a lot you (lawyers) can do. I am only trying to challenge you, I’m not putting you down,” he said.
Onyema advocated a law making lawyers’ involvement in the acquisition of aircraft and other key aspects of the aviation industry mandatory, saying a lot of the rules regulating airline business in the country were impracticable.
“Except lawyers begin to get their acts right, the aviation industry will continue to go down. I am even soliciting that it should be made compulsory that every aspect of negotiation or acquisition of an aircraft, a Nigerian lawyer should be there. You people should fight for it. The insurance industry fought for theirs, making it compulsory to go through a Nigerian insurance company before you can insure your aircraft. And let me tell you, all the insurance companies in Nigeria put together cannot insure one Boeing 737, yet you’re forced to go through them before you can get to the Lloyd’s of this world. But where are the lawyers? This is where you should come in,” he said.
