Air Peace Foray Into Guangzhou Deepens China-Nigeria Ties

 

Baba Ahmad Jidda, Nigerian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, has praised the Chinese and Nigerian governments for strengthening bilateral ties by approving Air Peace’s scheduled commercial flights to Guangzhou, China.

The flight service on that route, which began on July 13, 2022, impressed the envoy, who also urged the Chinese government to ease travel restrictions for Nigerians interested in flying to the Asian country.

Jidda made the announcement on Monday during a courtesy call to Air Peace Chairman Barrister Allen Onyema at the airline’s headquarters in Lagos.

Noting that the approval for Air Peace to launch flights into China was given on the strength of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement signed between both countries, he said it took about 4 years before the agreement was finally implemented.

The Ambassador, who lauded the efforts of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, and those of his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, stressed that a lot went into getting Air Peace, a Nigerian airline, to finally connect both countries through air travel.

“I want to say that as an ambassador, we still have much to do to support Air Peace to operate comfortably for the benefit of all Nigerians and the Chinese. So far, the Chinese are benefitting tremendously from the operations of Air Peace, because Nigerians are having some difficulty in obtaining visas. I, therefore, want to use this medium to plead with the Embassy of China in Abuja, to consider relaxing restrictions on Nigerians, such that Nigerians will be given visa and they will now fly Air Peace and the market of Air Peace will expand. This, to us, is very important.