The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has hailed the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Mr Festus Keyamo for issuing an order stopping everything relating to the litigious Nigeria Air project.
Recall that the minister had, during his maiden facility tour of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos in Thursday, August 31, ordered that all issues concerning the proposed airline and even the concession of airports started by the previous administration should be put on hold “until I brief Mr President.”
“There are issues already on the ground before I came; concession and all of that. For now I have suspended all of that until I brief the president as to what is happening regarding all those noises going on, including the issue of the Nigeria Air. I have given them the directive to suspend everything until I brief Mr President fully. The duty I owe Mr President is honesty; he brought me here and for me to correctly advise him,” Keyamo said.
Reacting to the development, AON said in a statement entitled ‘Airline Operators of Nigeria commends aviation minister over suspension of Nigeria Air project, others,’ praised the minister for displaying “rare courage and great patriotism to save Nigeria from further embarrassment in the aviation world.”
The AON said the processes of actualising the embryonic airline was shrouded in almost utter secrecy until the end of the last government.
It expressed the hope that by suspending the Nigeria Air project to allow for a thorough review, the minister “will put things right and help restore Nigeria’s image in the global aviation family.”
The association maintained that “it is not right to float a national carrier on the terms set out by the last aviation minister, which would undermine, even destroy, the aviation sector in Nigeria with Ethiopian Airlines waiting on the wings for total takeover.”
The release signed by AON’s spokesman, Mr Obiora Okonkwo, reads: “We, the entire membership of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), commend the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, for suspending every activity related to the operationalisation of Nigeria Air.
By the action, the minister has displayed rare courage and great patriotism to save Nigeria from further embarrassment in the aviation world.
Aside from stakeholders in the aviation industry, it was evident to everyone who had followed developments around the Nigeria Air project under the immediate past administration that the idea was not only ill-thought[1]out but also lacked any modicum of transparency. It was therefore no surprise that the house of representatives committees on aviation which investigated the process and purported launch of Nigeria Air on Friday, June 2, 2023 described it as a ‘fraud’.
It remains a puzzle to Nigerians why the processes of actualising such a major national project was shrouded in almost utter secrecy until the end of the last government. However, we remain confident that by suspending the Nigeria Air project to allow for a thorough review, the aviation minister Olorogun Keyamo will put things right and help restore Nigeria’s image in the global aviation family.
“AON continues to believe that it is not right to float a national carrier on the terms set out by the last Aviation Minister, which would undermine, even destroy, the aviation sector in Nigeria with Ethiopian Airlines waiting on the wings for total takeover.
‘We have no doubt that the new Aviation Minister has the right vision for the development of the sector which is driven by public interest considerations for the good of Nigerians.
“Again, the AON commends the minister for the great leadership he has shown so early in his tenure and pledge our unalloyed support in his quest to reform the aviation sector and implement other components of the aviation roadmap for the overall good of the Nigerian economy,”
