Templars Legislative Watch: Aviation Sector Bills

In what has been a series of legislative activities within the nation’s aviation sector, the President recently ratified the Montreal and the Beijing Protocols. The instruments were ratified by President Buhari on November 22, 2019. According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the Montreal Protocol amends the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation (The Montreal Convention of 1971) while 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) by expanding the scope of The Hague Convention to cover different forms of aircraft hijackings, including activities carried out through modern technological means.

Prior to this, the executive arm of government had forwarded four (4) Aviation Bills that were considered for First Reading at the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the “Senate”) on the 21st November, 2019. The bills are the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2019, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology Act (Amendment) Bill 2019, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (Establishment, etc.) Bill 2019 and the Civil Aviation Bill 2019.