Ime Akpan
“My guy, how far now?”
“Old boy, I dey o. It’s still far as the year just enter second quarter. And you know with the cash crisis that has somehow abetted, the first quarter was uneventful. A lot went wrong during those terrible months. How your end now?”
“My end dey o, my guy. Like you said the first three months were terrible, no thanks to the naira redesign (colouring) which went awry and stymied the economy and every other thing immeasurably. Meanwhile, happy cash crunch survival!”
“Yes o, thank you. It’s enough to make greeting out of it. See, if anyone, prophet or necromancer, had told me that I would be begging any bank for my money, I would have directed the person to go tell it to the marines. I’m grateful to God that it’s over. May we never have such experience again. Holy Ghost Fire!”
“Hope you’ll be in Adamawa State on May 29 for the inauguration of Ma’am Binani Dahiru, Nigeria’s first elected female state governor?”
“Ole boy, that woman’s desperation is unrivalled. I mean, she was declared the winner in a contest that was underway and she rushed to the media to make an acceptance speech.
“Boy, that Binani woman is a big disappointment. Even the women’s groups, not even the dyed-in-the-wool feminists supported her in the electoral heist. She fought a good fight, gave a stellar performance at the poll, coming from that far-north state that is known for conservatism. As a (distinguished) senator (of the federal republic), I’m not so sure she reads the Constitution and the Electoral Act. I expected her to have distanced herself from the shenanigan of the resident electoral commissioner, one Mr. Hudu Ari who announced her as elected without substantiating the margin of victory. She displayed desperation the way she arranged her ‘victory speech’, almost immediately.”
“We deliberately do the wrong things here. What our rogue politicians do is to manipulate the system in their favour and then tell the victims to ‘go to court’. It’s sad. Perhaps, this was the script of Binani’s sponsors, who might have made her to believe that his opponent would be asked to go to the tribunal once she was declared as the winner.”
“And to show more desperation, she rushed to the court seeking an order to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from invalidating her declaration as winner of the governorship election.” She contended that only the election tribunal could constitutionally nullify her victory.”
“I was waiting to hear if the court would uphold that electoral absurdity. I’m happy Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja refused to hear her ex parte application.”
“It seems we’re not ready to advance as a nation. We’re complaining about the untidiness of the entire 2023 elections and while trying to put that behind us, the Binanigate surfaced out of the blues. We already have a Supreme Court Governor. To add REC Governor of…. would have been another insult, no thanks to REC Ari.
“How was she so sure her ‘victory’ under such untidy circumstance would be sustained?”
“You heard the incumbent governor, Umaru Fintiri saying he contested the election against Abuja.”
“Yes, he said so. That gives a hint as to where the hefty sum allegedly paid to announce her as the winner came from. A princely N2 billion was alleged to have changed hands, according to reports, sha.”
“N2 billion. What money cannot do, more money can do! Whatever money was spent, I’m happy the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) dealt with the issue appropriately and on time. I learnt Ari is at large. He hasn’t reported to his boss in Abuja, as directed. In fact, I learnt he has been bouncing his boss’s calls.
“We always put the cart before the horse in this country. If we were serious, the REC should have been rounded up before announcing his suspension. Don’t be surprised that the man has jetted out of the country. In the presence of security agents, a convicted pension task force chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina who was on bail, fled the country. No be Nigeria?
“Make we leave that matter now. Eh, e get weting I wan ask you, my guy.”
“Go ahead. I know you always like to ask questions. But make sure it’s something I can address immediately without researching into it.”
“Okay. It’s a simple one and I know you know it. How far with the national carrier, I mean Nigeria Air? I learnt it would take off before May 29 this year but it doesn’t seem that something serious is afoot.
“Me too o! I’m confused about the whole Nigeria Air project. The little I know about it is that its existence is threatened by litigation.”
“Why? What concerns the court with the takeoff of an airline? Is it the court that stops its takeoff or the project is/was a scam?”
“Scam? Can you scam a whole country, the giant of Africa, Africa’s second largest economy and the most populous black nation in the world with over 133 million of its citizens who are not only poor but multi-dimensionally poor, according to the National Bureau of Statistics?”
“As if you have not been conned before. While the other countries went to the Farnborough Air Show in London in 2018 to secure aircraft and other deals, your country went there to unveil the logo of the litigious Nigeria Air. Did you come back with even a toy aircraft? Did anyone raise a finger as to the humongous sum spent on/at the Farnborough jamboree? And you’re now asking whether anyone can scam Nigeria. Stay there.”
“Let’s leave this scam matter because you cannot substantiate your allegations. Or do you want to risk libel? We go back to the issue of the airline. Why is the airline taken to court?”
“I learnt the Airline Operators of Nigeria feel threatened by the coming of Nigeria Air and are praying the court to ensure it has a stillbirth.”
“Bad belle people. AON, including those of them who have no thriving airline or any aviation-related business? What is their stake in the matter?”
“In AON, lions, mollusks and lobsters, etc are grouped vertebrates. When you belong to AON, it doesn’t matter whether you currently operate an airline or not. You must have been an operator although you may be redundant at the moment. And mind you, it’s not the first time the association would be peopled with some persons who do not own valid AOC, even the fuselage of an aircraft, let alone any allied aviation business.”
“You and your mouth. The day you show up at any AON meeting you will not come back with your head on the neck!
“Make I hear word. Na today?
“But speaking seriously now, why can’t the airlines buy into the national carrier, as in becoming part owners? I think it makes good business sense. Or doesn’t it?
“The airlines’ organisation says the proposed carrier is meant to kill the existing domestic airlines. It said it was the realisation of this that prompted it to go to court to stop its take off and urged the federal government to follow the laid down process and also extend the privileges given to Nigeria Air to other domestic airlines.
“In the court papers, AON (the plaintiff) sought orders against the defendants – the Nigeria Air Limited, Ethiopian Airlines (second defendant), minister of aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, and attorney general of the federation and minister of justice – directing the immediate, fresh and transparent bidding processes involving the plaintiffs to participate in the process; directing the immediate revocation and cancellation of the air transport license (ATL) issued by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to Nigeria Air.
“But I heard the minister the other day saying he invited the airline operators to buy shares in the new airline but they started doing shakara.”
“The airline operators are miffed that the bidding process was skewed towards them. That’s why they are also praying the court to award them N2 billion as damages for the injury they suffered because of their “wrongful exclusion; unlawful bidding and selection processes and their wrongful projection as not having properly, rightly, and timely bid in the Nigeria Air project.”
“But why Sirika no carry dem join body so that pesin go hear word? We always heat up minor things here. Look at Ghana, the government selected Ashanti Airlines owned by Ghanaian business mogul, Osei Kwame, as a strategic investor in re-establishing Ghana Airways. But we went offshore to source for an investor in a project we have capable hands.”
“No. You are not current. Sirika said he invited them. He said he told them, but they wanted a written invitation.”
“So, what stopped the letter? Shebi it’s for the minister to instruct the permanent secretary to write. Pronto. Nevertheless, the minister said the airline will take off before May 29. Meanwhile, hearing in the matter has been fixed for today, April 24. I don’t seem to see that airline flying before Buhari’s handover date.”
“Well, don’t forget that here we do things with impunity and tell whoever is the victim to go to court. I recall Sirika boasting during the commissioning of the domestic airport Runway 18L in 2022 that there is no court that can stop the airline. So, let’s watch out. That day he also said he was going to demolish all the structures from Arik Air office down to Bristow Helicopters and beyond for the proposed aerotropolis project. He said if he had his way, he would start the demolition the next day.”
“I think the minister has a knack for destroying things. He pulled down a multi-billion naira office complex belonging to the Nigerian Safety Investigation Board (NSIB), formerly Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) more than a year ago. Up till now, no structure has been erected there. It has become a hideout for cannabis smokers. People erect tents and sleep there overnight. Just take a stroll to that place in the morning and see things for yourself. Now, those staff who were sent to Abuja had no place to stay. They had to return to Lagos and work from home. NSIB has no office in Lagos, as we speak. Whenever its director general, Mr. Akin Olateru, has any official engagement in Lagos, he moves from the airport to the venue of the event and back to Abuja. He can’t even hold a media conference in Lagos because he has no office. Why was the minister in such a hurry to demolish that building?”
“ I can’t hazard any guess. But let me remind you that the demolition fever is not over yet. The minister said at the commissioning of the controversial 10 fire trucks bought at the cost of N12 billion that more demotion of structures within the Lagos Airport will be carried in the coming days. He said those complaining about the exercise “are talking rubbish.” He said the demolition squad would visit the Dominion Hangar owned by Bishop Oyedepo of Winners’ Chapel. Also to be pulled down is EAN operated by the former director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren. He said those hangars are illegal.”
“Shuu? Illegal? Holy Ghost fire! Oyedepo’s hangar? The minister no dey fear? But come to think of it, those facilities, I think, were built even before the new terminal at the international wing of the Lagos Airport was erected. And it’s not as if anyone would just go to the airport environment to build a structure. An airport is a regulated area. If those structures have to give way for apron expansion, there should be a due process. The owners should be compensated. We are not talking about kiosks; we are talking about multi-billion naira structures; we are talking about multi-billion naira equipment which the owners have invested their money in. You just don’t wake up one day and destroy people’s investment and tell them to go to court. Those hangars got approval before they were built.”
“Sirika, from what I’ve seen just wants to mess up the Lagos Airport environment before leaving office. He also plans to bring down NCAA, FAAN and NAMA headquarters annex and FAAN staff quarters to pave the way for the proposed aerotropolis project. For eight years, there are so many nice to hear projects he outlined. Aerotropolis. Aircraft leasing company. National carrier. MRO. Aerospace university, etc. They are all items in his aviation bush path, I mean aviation roadmap. He hasn’t completed any one of them. Now he’s bent on pulling down structures and awarding contract for the aerotropolis project in the twilight of his departure.”
“You notice one curious things about Minister Sirika. He has not constituted the boards of aviation agencies for almost eight years since he became minister. Perhaps if there were boards, he excesses would be checked, somehow. Bu right now, everything revolves around him. Look at the concession programme. He takes all the decisions. Nobody else matters. Like the chairman, FAAN’s branch of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Mr. Ahmed Danjuma said “the concession is a one-man project by Sirika.”
“Have you listened to the complaints about the N12 billion spent on 10 fire tenders? Imagine that! And the ministry of aviation has been quiet since then. The minister, too, does not owe anyone further explanation. What he does now is to coerce some people to hail the project.”
“The other day, the NSIB chief who happens to be one of his Man Fridays issued a statement praising the purchase of the fire trucks to the heavens. While unveiling the equipment, the minister made mockery of the man saying ‘Eleyin (this one here), if he had refused to move to Abuja I would have fired him because I hired him.”
“I learnt Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing would have built and delivered the fire trucks for lesser amount. But it was not given the contract.”
“Must charity always begin at home? Does IVM produce diamond-plated fire tenders; I mean the types the minister launched?”
“You’ll never stop to amaze me. Are those trucks made of diamond?”
“Someone said the trucks did not come with some vital components. That’s why they were not used for demonstration during the commissioning. Maybe contract for buying the missing components would be captured in the next budget.”
“You’re always listening to gossip. Do you drive trucks? No be second-hand 7-seater bus you dey drive? Which of the components did not come with the trucks? How were they taken to the venue of the launch, towed? And how would they be taken to Abuja, and Kano airports because they are not meant for Lagos alone? Leave gossip. Let’s celebrate the diamond-plated trucks.”
“Okay, o. I surrender. Any update on the N2 billion fraud uncovered at NCAA? Recall that sometime in March four of the authority’s staff were picked up by the EFCC for allegedly paying themselves and others duty tour allowances in excess of that amount.”
“Yes o, that’s true. That case is almost forgotten. I’ll find out from my source. Let me take my leave now. When I get the update about the NCAA stuff, I’ll call you. Bye and see you soon again.”
