The Federal Government may revive the national carrier amidst the suspension of the Nigeria Air project.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar Kana, revealed this while clarifying an earlier comment he reportedly made that he had the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to deliver a new national carrier.
The comment which elicited mixed reactions in the industry has since been denied.
Kana on Wednesday, while further giving a hint that the project is still in the agenda of the Tinubu-led government, said he received many inquiries on his reference to the revival of the National Carrier Project.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I never said there is a mandate to revive the botched Nigeria Air deal with Ethiopian airline. I received no such instruction. I was only referring to the general vision of the administration to still consider a National Carrier Project if it is favourable to the country and under the guidance and directives of Mr. President and the Honourable Minister of Aviation. I hope this clarifies all the ambiguities surrounding my earlier statement on this issue.”
He said he is “absolute loyal” to Keyamo, and said he is committed to “working closely with him to drive the ministry’s agenda forward. Together, we will ensure that the future of aviation in Nigeria is bright, innovative and reflective of the aspirations of our great nation.”
It would be recalled that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo on assumption of office in 2023 halted the Nigeria Air project, saying the Ethiopian Airline’s deal on Nigeria Air was a fraud.
He, however, did not promise that there would be a new deal.
Keyamo showed the agreement with ET recently, saying, “This is the master agreement I have here. You’ll be shocked if you read that document.
“After some time, I’ll make it public. I’m not hiding from it. I don’t need a lawyer to read it for me. 33 years of active practice of law tells me what to say.
“This is the Ethiopian Air agreement here. And you’ll be shocked if you look at this. What it simply says is that a foreign government should come and take over our national carrier.
“That is the long and short of the story, because Ethiopian Air was a single major shareholder in that deal. Ethiopian Air is owned by another government in Africa. It’s the same thing they have done to Togo. Togo is a small country. They have done it with Asky owned by Ethiopian Air. We cannot be Togo. I apologise, whoever I’m talking to but we cannot be Togo.
“We are big, we are big, we are ambitious. We cannot give up our entire ecosystem to another entity. Because what would have happened in that case is that the Ethiopian government would now be a complete beneficiary of all our BASA (Bilateral Air Service Agreement) routes.”
Stakeholders, industry players and analysts are worried over the delay by the FG to revive the national carrier since keyamo suspended the Nigeria Air project in 2024.
Meanwhile, former of aviation Minister Hadi Sirika Wednesday denied that N85bn was expended on the Nigeria Air project, saying only N3bn was spent on the project.
Sirika said only about N5 billionwas budgeted for Air Nigeria from 2016 to 2023adding that only N3 billion was accessed.
“Part of the N3 billion has so far been spent on the acquisition of offices, payments of consultancy fees, workers’ salaries and processing of Air Operators ‘Certificate (AOC).”
