The controversy over the much talked-about Nigeria Air – former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika’s most guarded project – and, specifically, the declaration by some members of the last national assembly that it was a fraud further confirms the widely held belief that Nigeria is a country where anything and, indeed, everything is possible.
Conceptualised to be a legacy project of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the Nigeria Air project sought to give Nigeria and Nigerians a sense of pride in having a national carrier. Most African countries, including those that borrowed a leaf from the defunct Nigeria Airways, now have their national carrier.
Sudan, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt and Uganda, among others, either had, or still have, national carriers. Of course, the ownership structure varies as some are not wholly owned by the government of the respective countries but operate on joint ownership.
For instance, while Ethiopian Airlines and Sudan Airways are fully owned by the government of Ethiopia and Sudan respectively, Zambia Airways, which is the flag carrier of the Republic of Zambia, is owned by the Zambian government and Ethiopian Airlines on 55% and 45% stakes respectively.
Even though Nigeria has a Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with over 70 countries, with only 30 operating at the moment, we don’t have a national carrier.
Without any equivocation, there is clearly no reason why Nigeria should not have a national carrier even though most Nigerians believe such shouldn’t (and cannot) be fully owned by the government because of the not-so-pleasant experience of the defunct Nigeria Airways. Perhaps this explains why Nigerians welcomed the idea of Nigeria Air and continually waited with bated breath to see it fly.
Indeed, the euphoria and anxiety that trailed Sirika’s assurances that Nigeria Air will fly before the expiration of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure is suggestive of the extent to which most Nigerians long to have a national carrier.
To ensure he kept his words, he hurriedly arranged an Ethiopian Airlines plane draped with the logo of Nigeria Air, and made it fly to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a few hours to the end of Buhari’s tenure in office.
Good enough, one may say, since he was able to keep his promise in a country where leaders are hardly held to account for their myriad of failed promises, but that is not the issue. The real issue is the fact that he lied to Nigerians.
Before unveiling the aircraft with registration number ET-APL at the General Aviation Terminal of the Abuja airport, Sirika said shortly after it landed that it was a very long, tedious, daunting and difficult path, just as he expressed relief that the project had taken off.
Most Nigerians were understandably, elated by the fact that the Air Nigeria project is kicking off in 2023, a year in which the International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects ‘good tidings for the industry’ with Carriers in Africa expected to narrow losses to $213 million, from a projected loss of $638 million in 2022
Specifically, IATA expects a return to profitability for the global airline industry in 2023, as airlines continue to cut losses stemming from the effects of the pandemic to their business in 2022.
However, few days after the purported flag-off by Sirika, the acting managing director of Nigeria Air, Captain Dapo Olumide, told the 9th Senate’s Committee on Aviation that the Airlines had yet to secure an operating licence for full flight operations, saying the processes were still at the early stages.
The aircraft that flew in with the logo of Nigeria Air, Olumide said, was chartered from Ethiopian Airlines for the purpose of unveiling the logo.
“And that is what we did. But in this case, it was to unveil the logo of Nigeria Air. Ever since 2018, all you have ever seen about Nigeria Air were pictures, drawings, not the real aircraft, and we thought it was time to show what the real aircraft will look like. Also, to let shareholders see. We have institutional investors; they are not in aviation but they are putting their money for 10 to 15 years, so they need to see what the actual aircraft will look like.
“So, we brought it in here to show them what the aircraft will look like, then the social media dimension came into it. For us to get that license which is my mandate, we must, among other things, have three aircraft before the NCAA will give us a licence and those three aircraft must be Nigerian-registered aircraft.
“So, when this aircraft came on a chartered flight, everybody said we have launched Nigeria Air; there are learned people in the aviation industry who could have countered that when social media came out, but they chose not to,” Olumide told the lawmakers.
The impression Sirika gave Nigerians when the aircraft draped with the Nigeria Air logo landed in Abuja was that the project has taken effect and many Nigerians believed the next task was for them to go online to check the airlines’ routes and make bookings preparatory to flying. Clearly, that will be a long time coming, if it ever comes at all.
But let’s even look at the journey of the Nigeria Air project. In 2017, the federal government said it will invest $5 million in the venture. At an Air Show in 2018, outside the shores of Nigeria, Sirika unveiled the Nigeria Air logo and said operations are expected to begin in December of the same year. At the time, not a few Nigerians criticised the minister for contracting the designing of the logo to a Bahraini company when Nigerian branding and advertising companies could have done a far better job than the pedestrian logo we now have for far less than the $600,000 reportedly paid for it (even though the minister later denied the figure without stating how much he paid).
It is worth mentioning that the Ethiopian Airlines was to have a 49% share in the company.
Between 2018 to May 2023 when Sirika ‘launched’ the airline, a lot of water had passed under the bridge (to use a popular Nigerian lingo).
While yours sincerely may not agree with the then chairman of House of Reps Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, that the launch of Nigeria Air was a fraud, the fact that major stakeholders in the deal between the federal government and Ethiopian Airlines denied knowledge of the launch, with even the Ministry of Aviation claiming it was only unveiled and not launched, showed clearly that Nigerians had been taken for a ride.
There is no point reasserting the fact that there are processes and procedures for establishing an airline business and no airline gets off the ground without going through the process of acquiring some actual aircraft. Where are the aircraft for Nigeria Air?
It is trite that to acquire an aircraft, there are options available for the airline company, including the choice to either lease or purchase. In flying in an Ethiopian Airlines draped with the logo of Nigeria Air, was Sirika settling for the lease option? Why didn’t he tell Nigerians?
But even after clearing the hurdle of either purchasing or leasing an aircraft, there is the legal and, if you like, bureaucratic hurdle called certification. Most Nigerians are alarmed to learn that Nigeria Air has not got the needed certification as the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Emmanuel Meribole, said that Nigeria Air had not gotten the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) to operate as an airline.
The recent disclosure concerning the actual status of Nigeria Air project has sadly added to the long list of the failed promises of the immediate past Buhari government, and Hadi Sirika has some explanations to make. Relevant authorities must, without delay, demand from Sirika a full disclosure on the circumstances surrounding the failed Nigeria Air project. They must do it fast!
It is worth pointing out that the members of the last NASS who raised questions about the Air Nigeria project after Sirika’s launch, could have done more to prevent the scenario had they taken up their oversight functions with all the necessary diligence. This is one National Assembly that will go down in history as the most ‘rubberstamp’ Assembly since democracy birthed in Nigeria.
As for the Buhari administration where Sirika served for almost eight years as aviation minister, Nigerians will remember it for its long list of failed promises. Is it the promise to combat corruption, address insecurity or retool the economy? The immediate past administration failed with a distinction and the latest exposé on the much talked-about Nigeria Air project has added insult to the injury of Nigerians. But we won’t stop asking Sirika, where is the Nigeria Air?
