Nigeria Airline.
On Monday, Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, criticized the agreement between the country and Ethiopian Airlines concerning the proposed national carrier, Nigeria Air.
Keyamo stated that it would be “irresponsible” for the Federal Government to proceed with a deal that grants a foreign entity a monopoly over Nigeria’s aviation industry.
Additionally, he revealed that reports on the matter have been submitted, and the next course of action for the project will be determined by President Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo informed journalists from the State House after the recent Federal Executive Council gathering at the Aso Rock Villa,” “I cannot preempt my President. I cannot…now we have looked at all the issues and it’s before Mr. President.”
The prospects for the commencement of operations by Nigeria’s national carrier, Nigeria Air, are uncertain, particularly with the emergence of new details about the contract on Monday.
Despite a grand ceremony held on May 26, 2023, to mark the arrival of its inaugural aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, the airline has been inactive for the past six months.
Established in 2018, the ownership of Nigeria Air is distributed among Ethiopian Airlines (49 per cent), Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (46 per cent), and the Federal Government (5 per cent).
However, Keyamo disclosed that certain aspects of the agreement with the primary participant in the deal, Ethiopian Airlines, necessitated a thorough reexamination in the nation’s best interest. This included considerations related to waivers and staffing arrangements.
He said, “In the agreement, you are giving tax waivers to Ethiopian Airline coming into Nigeria. They asked for tax waivers for five years and you granted them, to come and compete with your local airline which are paying those heavy taxes.
“How? Do you want to create a monopoly? That’s why when they tell you that we want to crash price by…it’s a lie. It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“The only thing that brings down prices in the commercial world is fair competition.”
“How? Do you intend to establish a monopoly? Claims of wanting to lower prices are deceptive; it’s essentially taking from one to give to another.
“In the commercial realm, the only factor that genuinely lowers prices is fair competition.”
He also expressed regret that the contract aimed to hand over the hiring of employees at all levels to Ethiopian investors, a situation he found troubling.
“In the agreement, they also made a proposal that they will appoint everybody; top management, everybody Ethiopian, in Nigeria, and we agreed. We agreed!” he said.
“I have heard all kinds of things going on, all kinds of brickbats in the social media, but I cannot preempt my President.
“All the documents, all the reports, everything, we have forwarded to Mr. President, the issues we’ve met on the ground.
“I feel the pulse of Nigerians. Even the National Assembly raised concerns over that, and so many stakeholders. It would have been responsible to close my eyes totally to those concerns. So because of that, we suspended it, to say that let’s just look at all the issues and recommend,” he explained.