Nigeria has proposed a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with Cuba to boost economic relations between both countries. Nigeria’s Ambassador to Cuba, Ms Laraba Bhutto said in Abuja that the agreement, when established, would also boost economic ties with other Caribbean countries.
She said the issue of the agreement was discussed on March 17 when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Aminu Wali received the visiting Cuban counterpart, Mr Bruno Parilla. She added that the ministers also discussed plans to establish a pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria, given Cuba’s remarkable progress in the fields of science, medicine and biotechnology.
Bhutto, who holds a concurrent accreditation to Barbados, Nicaragua and Honduras, expressed satisfaction with the state of bilateral relations between Nigeria and Cuba.
“We have very good relations in many sectors of bilateral relations, cultural relations, sporting relations and political relations. The only weak aspect of our bilateral relations is the economic sector; we do not have a vibrant economic relation with Cuba. This we have realised and we have agreed to work together to improve economic relations.
“I have made a lot of proposal to them; first of all I want us to establish Bilateral Air Services Agreement.
“When we have an air services agreement and we see citizens from both countries moving from one country to another, gradually economic relations would improve.
“BASA agreement will be a pre-cursor to improved economic relations with Cuba and other countries in the Caribbean,’’ she said. Bhutto said only one African airline, the Angolan airline currently operated in Cuba.
She noted that although Nigeria did not have a registered national carrier, there were indigenous airlines in the country that could leverage on the air services agreement.
The ambassador said Afro-Cubans had a strong cultural affinity with sub-Saharan Africa, while some traced their ancestry to Nigeria. “I am told that 70 per cent of Cuban blacks are of Nigeria descent and we have very active Nigeria culture being portrayed in Cuba.
“The Santeria religion is a mixture of Yoruba religion and some other religions and the Yoruba deities are worshipped in Havana,’’ she said.
She recalled that in 2000, former President Olusegun Obasanjo opened a Yoruba House in Havana, which had become a historical and cultural monument in the island.
Bhutto declared that her greatest desire, as Nigeria and Cuba marked 40 years of diplomatic relations in July, was to see more Afro-Cubans return home and settle in Nigeria.
“We used to have a policy that encouraged Caribbean people of African descent who are able to trace their ancestry in Nigeria to return home. We should be able to accommodate them because the country is big and we have a lot of land,’’ she said. The gruesome Atlantic slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries saw European countries ship millions of men, women and children from Africa to the Caribbean and Americas.
