By Ammar M. Rajab Bilateral relations and trade between Israel and Nigeria will increase with the commencement of direct flights...
By Ammar M. Rajab
Bilateral relations and trade between Israel and Nigeria will increase with the commencement of direct flights between the two countries in March, the Israeli authorities have disclosed.
The Deputy Director-General, African Department, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Sharon Bar-Li, said this while meeting with selected Nigerian journalists on a media tour to Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Bar-Li said the direct flights would further cement the relations between Africa and the Middle East.
According to her, she said; “Once we are able to inaugurate direct flights between Nigeria and Israel, we are going to see a boost because right now, there is no gateway for Israel into Africa.
“As a former Ambassador to Ghana, I can tell you that it is very difficult once you do not have a direct flight. Once this route starts working, we are going to see a huge change.
“We are going to see business flourishing; people will be able to come and go easily. We will see a pilgrimage,” she said.
The director-general said Nigeria was a very religious country and the citizens, both Christians, and Muslims, went to Israel on pilgrimage.
“Do not forget that Jerusalem is a sacred place for free religions, not just to Christianity, not just to Judaism, but also to Islam where people come to mount to do little hajj.
“By March, I hope to be able to welcome to Israel the Minister who will come on the first flight to inaugurate this route. It will be a very profitable route with a high demand for it.
“The eagerness to open this new route is a good sign for post-COVID-19 recovery,” Bar-Li said.
She said that the operation of a direct flight between Israel and Nigeria would break all trade barriers, lamenting the minimal trade between both countries which had been on the low in recent years.
“The trade is very minimal and I am hopeful that with this direct flight, we will have no more excuses,” she added.
Our source reported that Israel has also expressed its readiness to support Nigeria in intelligence sharing, modern combat equipment, and extraction of relevant information to effectively win the ongoing war against terrorism.
Retired Lt.-Col. Jonathan Konricus, who served in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), said this in Jerusalem while addressing some Nigerian reporters in Israel on a media tour.
Available record shows that Israel and Nigeria established diplomatic relations in 1960, following Nigeria’s independence from the United Kingdom. But Nigeria-Israel relations have been a matter of heated debate due to the support of a large percentage of the country’s population for the Palestinians.
It is on record that in 1973, Nigeria severed diplomatic ties with Israel after the “Yom Kippur War.” The diplomatic relations were restored in September 1992 during Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s regime. Since April 1993, Israel has maintained an embassy in Abuja, and Nigeria has an embassy in Tel Aviv.
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