Whilst I agree that Arik have put a lot of money into their start up and so far appear to be very proffessional in the way they go about things, I would have expected the response to include some indication of when, and with what, they will operate the International Long Haul route. All that was mentioned was the 737 and CRJ900, neither of which is a viable option for Lagos to London!!
As for the other airlines who haven't been granted anything, maybe they should look at their own houses and put them in order before complaining. It is very important for ALL of Nigerian aviation that those airlines which operate long haul do so to the very highest standards of customer service and safety. I have flown on 7 of the existing operators and all except VK, Aero and IRS (only seen their 737) should be ashamed of the condition of the interiors of some aircraft in their fleet. Liberal use of speed tape and/or locking wire to keep overhead lockers together, seats which have copious amounts of trim missing and surly cabin crew is not confidence building for passengers.
Just in case I am accused of bias by those who recognise who I am from my previous posts, I would point out that I am back in UK at the moment, hoping to return to Nigeria in the near future if required, so my comments are hopefully unbiased by association.