Former Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Hadi Sirika, has accused some Nigerian domestic carriers of frustrating the establishment of the proposed national airline, Nigeria Air.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief programme, Sirika said members of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), including Air Peace, Azman Air and United Nigeria Airlines, stalled the project through legal actions that challenged the partnership agreement with Ethiopian Airlines.
According to him, the deal—which went through the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and received approvals from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC)—was transparent and designed as a Public Private Partnership (PPP).
“We had an airline, but some people went to court(Air Peace, United and Azman) to say we cannot establish an airline where we take five per cent. That was what stalled it. If there was no court case, and the new government had pursued it, by today we would have an airline,” Sirika stated.
The former minister dismissed allegations that over N100 billion was squandered on the project, clarifying that between 2015 and 2023, only N3 billion was released out of a N5 billion budgetary provision. He explained that nearly one-third of the expenditure went into consultancy services, while the rest covered staff and operational costs.
Sirika further argued that no local carrier had the capacity to compete with international airlines, hence the decision to partner with Ethiopian Airlines, which he described as a proven African operator with nearly eight decades of experience.
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👉 JOIN GISTSMATE WHATSAPP CHANNEL“I do not think an airline that has five aircraft can compete in the global market with carriers that have 250 planes and expect to survive,” he said, citing the collapse of former domestic airlines such as Kabo, Okada and Arik.
He also dismissed claims by the current Minister of Aviation that the Nigeria Air agreement was fraudulent, urging Nigerians to invoke the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to scrutinize the documents at the ministry and the ICRC.
Sirika insisted that the project was above board and would eventually materialize:
“This airline, whether now or in the future, will come to be. When the bid happened transparently, in which some of those airlines participated, Ethiopian Airlines won fair and square,” he concluded.
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