The Airline Operators of Nigeria
(AON) on Thursday commended the Federal Government for suspending the National
Carrier, Nigeria Air.
The Minister of State for
Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, had on Wednesday announced that the Federal
Government had decided to suspend Nigeria Air.
The Chairman of AON, Capt. Nogie
Meggisson, said that the move was in response to complaints by the operators.
Meggisson said that the operators
had continued to call for a rethink by the Federal Government regarding the
project in the interest of the nation.
He said: “We thank President
Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for listening to our
many calls for the suspension of the idea.
“In our opinion, we believe the
process was neither transparent, nor did it clearly define the role of private
investors in the entire process.
“At this time of our national
limited resources and struggle to recover from recession, AON will like to
state that there are private Nigerian airline investors ready to invest.
“They are already investing
heavily in the sector and only asking for a more friendly operational
environment and infrastructure support.
“Putting the issue into
perspective, setting up of National Carrier will cost Nigeria at least three
billion dollars because a single B777 Aircraft as of today costs about 320
million dollars.
“Is it wise and our priority as a
nation to take three billion dollars from the Nigerian coffers today and put
into a venture that will for sure go down the drain within a maximum of five
years to establish a `National Carrier’?
“This is bearing also in mind
that the National Carrier will need an additional cash injection of 500 million
dollars subsidy per year on average for the next 10 years to keep the airline
afloat.”
Meggisson urged Federal
government to engage the private sector to make aviation a major economic
contributor to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (Product)
“Nigeria is a natural Hub for
Africa. However, airlines don’t make a hub; but it is world-class
infrastructure that makes a hub. Then, the airlines and airplanes will come in.
“Government should go back to the
drawing board and engage the private sector with transparency on how to
position Nigeria as the hub for Africa to take advantage of our God-given gift
of geographical location,” he added.
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