Aviation: Buhari ratifies Beijing Protocol 2010, Montreal Protocol 2014

President Muhammadu Buhari has ratified the Protocol to amend
the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft
(Hague Convention of 1971) (Beijing Protocol 2010).

President Buhari also ratified the Protocol to amend the
Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of
Civil Aviation (The Montreal Convention of 1971) (Beijing Protocol
2010).

Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Media and Publicity, said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the
instruments were ratified by President Buhari on November 22,
2019.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation
(ICAO), the Beijing Protocol supplements the Convention for the
Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, done at The Hague on
16 December 1970 (The Hague Convention, 1970).

To this end, the Protocol expands the scope of The Hague
Convention to cover different forms of aircraft hijackings,
including through modern technological means.

President Buhari also ratified the Protocol to amend the
Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board
Aircraft (Montreal Protocol 2014) as well as the protocol to amend
Article (50a) and Article 56 of the Convention on International
Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention of December 1944) (Montreal
Protocol 2016).

The President also ratified the Bilateral Air Services Agreement
(BASA) between the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
and the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

With the execution of these instruments, it is expected that
Nigeria’s aviation links with the UAE will improve
significantly.

The Federal Executive Council had at its meetings of October 16,
2019, approved the ratification and the preparation of the
requisite Instruments of the Ratification of the aforementioned
treaties and conventions.