Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has assured Nigerians that the country’s national carrier, Nigeria Air, will be operational before the handing over of the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The minister said this while answering questions from reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday.
According to the minister, everything is set and in place for the commencement of the national carrier before President Buhari leaves office on May 29.
“We have everything in place, the aircraft are in place, the offices, operational centres, the staffing and everything that we need to have in place,” Hadi Sirika said.
Recall that a Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos, had ordered the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) not to issue an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) to Nigeria Air Limited, following a suit filed by a group of domestic airliners.
The domestic airline operators had under the aegis of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) challenged the equity structure of the airline which cedes 49% stake to Ethiopian Airlines with the Federal Government having only 5% while the remaining 46% is for Nigerian investors.
Speaking on the possibility of the national carrier, which was issued its Air Transport License (ATL) by the NCAA last year, still meeting the target of its take off before the end of the present administration, Sirika said everything needed for operations to commence had been put in place, assuring the planned take off will still happen.
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His words: “Nigeria Air Limited, I did say that we will get it going before the end of this administration and I’ve not withdrawn my words. We have everything in place, the aircrafts are in place, the offices, operational centres, the staffing and everything that we need to have in place. We’re doing the last minute checks and waiting for the issuance of the AOC and it will fly.
“It will fly, it will be for the benefit of this country, for the size of population, the travelling public and what it does to the economy, especially to tourism, to African integration and to the AU Agenda 2063. It’s a very important project and I must do, it will happen before the end of our tenure in the next four weeks and two days.”
Commenting on the recent strike embarked upon by aviation workers, Sirika said: “So the Nigerian aviation workers are striking principally for three reasons. Reason number one, they said the conditions of service for the agencies. Number two is minimum wage implementation and number three, they’re talking about the demolition of the headquarters or the office of FAAN in Lagos.
“Condition of service is not in our hands, it’s in the Salaries and Income Wages. I personally as the Minister went there with the union three times to fast track that process. So that’s being looked at by the appropriate authority and I think they are fast tracking it.
“On the implementation of the minimum wage, that also Accountant General’s Office, Ministry of Finance and the agency concerned are working hard to ensure that that happens.
“Lastly on the demolition of the FAAN headquarters to erect offices, shopping malls and make it what you see when you travel abroad. That is also ongoing. If you ask me, make me an omelette, you can complain that I’m breaking your egg, that’s a quotation from one of the Managing Directors of FAAN, but that said, I think it’s been overhyped, taken out of context.
“Certainly, the FAAN building was there, even before Egbon Lai Mohammed joined the FAAN. So it was a transit camp, the FAAN office is transit camp for the people that built the airport, it’s made out of wood and some panels as a makeshift office and this is what FAAN has been using on a very prime property and it’s not befitting for the FAAN Lagos office, it’s only waste of space, and it caught fire twice, once during our administration.
“So we thought that that place should leave so that we can erect offices, shopping malls, cinemas, and the rest of it. Airports are no longer places where you take over land. You all go to Dubai, you all go to other places and see how they are, so certainly and definitely government would remove those wood structures, housing FAAN’s office now and erect among the aerotropolis components; offices, shopping malls, hotels, car parks and the rest of it, befitting of the nation, Nigeria and befitting of the city of Lagos.”
