…Says national carrier doomed to fail
By Chinelo Obogo
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has advised the Federal Government to immediately scrap Nigeria Air, a project he described as a charade spearheaded by the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, which he said is doomed to fail.
While responding to some allegations made by Sirika last Sunday, that domestic airlines lack capacity to Air Peace leased two Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months and incurred losses of $19 million, Onyema who spoke during the Morning Show on Wednesday, said Sirika’s claims regarding Air Peace was aimed at demeaning local operators and indigenous Nigerian airlines in favour of Nigeria Air.
He also stated that the concept of a national carrier is outdated and that countries now opt for flag carriers, while insisting that the national carrier will inevitably fail. He said rather than investing in a ‘charade’, the government should strengthen the ease of doing business and domestic airlines will blossom.
During the interview, Sirika defended the unveiling of Nigeria Air less than three days to the end of the Muhammadu Buhari administration and despite a court injunction barring the project from going forward. He claimed the shareholder were the ones who organised the unveiling as a marketing strategy and also denied reports that the Federal Government budgeted N85 billion for the Nigeria Air. He said that from 2016 till date, the Federal Government earmarked
N5 billon for the national carrier and that out the amount, N3 billion was released from which expenses were made.
But Onyema who is the Vice President of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), the umbrella body of the domestic Airlines accused Sirika of spreading lies and playing the ethnic card. He refuted some of his claims, insisting that domestic carriers have the capacity to be flag carriers if the Federal Government would create a more conducive environment for them to thrive.
“For the Nigeria Air project, only the Nigerian companies will bring in money. Ethiopia will not bring a penny into Nigeria but will earn 49% of Nigeria’s wealth. It is only the Nigerian companies, SACHOL and MRS that would bring in the money. The document is with us here. Ethiopia is not bringing a penny into Nigeria. Ethiopia will pay rentals for their own planes for five years. Even if they pay the 122 thousand, Air Peace alone is worth over two billion dollars.
“I call on President Bola Tinubu to immediately dissolve this charade called Nigeria Air. We should be thankful to SAHCOL for refusing to put its signature on something that will subvert Nigeria’s economy, which is the Nigeria Air – Ethiopian Airlines deal. The court order barring Nigeria Air has not being vacated, so the unveiling they did was contemptuous. Inviting a foreign airline to disrespect our judiciary is very unbecoming of our government officials. The case has not been vacated, it’s still subsisting, you don’t vacate by the words of the mouth. Application to vacate does not mean vacation, it could go either way.
“This is a former minsiter trying to fool the entire nation in his desperate bid to fool everybody to win the nation. He was peddling falsehood on Air Peace. So, how do we as a nation believe every other thing he was saying out there?
“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is there. You can contact them, they are the regulators. He was in charge. He signed the import permit of those aircrafts. You cannot import any aircraft into the country without the minister of aviation approving. He did all that and he knew that those airplanes were not leased. They were not rented. They were fully paid for and he told the entire world that we leased those airplanes just to make us look bad and at the same time, praising his Ethiopian partners,” Onyema said.