Nigeria and Jamaica Near Signing of Reviewed Bilateral Air Services Agreement

Nigeria and Jamaica expect to sign their reviewed Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA — the treaty that sets the terms under which each country's airlines may operate flights to the other) in Kingston during the last week of November or the first week of December 2026, according to Nigeria's aviation ministry.

The timeline emerged from a meeting between Nigeria's Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, and the Jamaican High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lincoln Downer. The ministry disclosed the outcome in a statement issued on Wednesday by Tunde Moshood, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister.

The agreement has already cleared a key institutional hurdle. Officials told Keyamo the text had undergone review by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and had been returned, placing the process at an advanced stage of completion.

Where the text now stands

Both countries' legal and technical teams have reviewed the draft extensively. Downer indicated that Jamaica had already sent its legally reviewed text to the Nigerian side and was waiting for confirmation that Abuja accepted it.

"So we're pleased now that we're at the point where we can now sign. We shared the legally reviewed text with your team, so I haven't heard from them," Downer said. "That's what I wanted to know today — where we stand, so that we can then set the date. You can give us an update?"

Keyamo responded by requesting the relevant file to verify the documentation's status himself. He then directed officials to provide a final copy of the agreement to the High Commissioner for a last review and proofreading, so that both parties are satisfied with the text before the formal endorsement.

What does the agreement change for carriers and passengers?

For now, the mechanism matters more than any route announcement. A concluded BASA gives airlines of both states a legal framework — designated carriers, capacity rights and commercial terms — to launch and operate services between Nigeria and Jamaica. No specific carriers, frequencies or routes appear in the ministry's statement, so nothing is certified or schedulable yet.

The ministry frames the deal's practical payoff in three areas:

• easier air travel between the two countries;
• stronger economic and tourism links;
• deeper people-to-people exchange between Nigeria and the Jamaican diaspora community.

The agreement also fits Nigeria's broader push to expand international aviation partnerships through mutually beneficial air services agreements, part of the ministry's stated effort to grow the country's air connectivity footprint.

Next steps

Two items remain before the deal becomes binding: confirmation that Nigeria accepts the reviewed text, and agreement between the two governments on a mutually convenient signing date. Keyamo has reaffirmed the Federal Government's commitment to concluding the agreement on time and directed relevant officials to expedite the final documentation in readiness for the proposed ceremony in Jamaica.

If the Kingston signing proceeds on schedule in late November or early December 2026, attention will shift to whether either country's carriers move to designate aircraft and open a direct link between West Africa and the Caribbean.