Multi-billion Naira Carrier Project Dogged by Rot, Scam, Impunity

It is no longer news that former President Muhammadu Buhari left office on May 29, 2023, after eight years, without delivering the national carrier or flag carrier, as some persons describe it, Nigeria Air. The carrier was among his many unfulfilled promises which left citizens bemused after placing a huge trust in him.

What is more worrying, however, is the rot and impunity that characterised the obviously questionable multi-billion Naira carrier project. Moreover, events at the twilight of Buhari’s exit saw bewildered Nigerians boil with anger and despair over what seemed an unwavering determination to scam the people.

Before assuming office, Buhari had indicated interest in bringing back the national carrier, Nigeria Airways, earlier liquidated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 after 45 years of operation. Among Buhari’s campaign promises in the 2015 presidential election was the restoration of the national carrier, which was not considered wise and feasible by well-meaning Nigerians. But the “visioner” would not see the merit in any voice raised against the controversial project.

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Ulterior motive betrayed

The missteps in the take-off was sufficient evidence that raising a new national carrier from the carcass of the demised Nigeria Airways was a mere flying idea in the sky. It, however, betrayed the Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, as a public servant on a mission of ulterior motive, given subsequent developments. He demonstrated to Nigerians, from the outset, that he was flying into a thick cloud that covered integrity.

From the outset, Sirika pursued the project in a manner that suggested his priority for a personal carrier over a national carrier. He committed humongous public resources to the Nigeria Air project in the most unconscionable manner.

The project was greeted with public outcry over the outsourcing of the Nigeria Air logo to a Bahraini company by the government at an allegedly outrageous sum despite the abundance of similar service providers in the country. But this did not cause Buhari’s aviation minister to do a rethink.

There were claims that the logo design contract was worth $600,000 (N183 million), which the government denied without providing an alternative figure. Coupled with the huge expenses incurred in freighting a large contingent of government officials and other Nigerians to the Farnborough Fair in the UK in 2018, for a mere unveiling of the national carrier, it was obvious that the project was billed to thrive more on controversy than in reality.

The empty show

At the July 2018 Farnborough Air Show in London, the United Kingdom (UK), Senator Sirika announced plans to launch the national carrier within six months.

The airline, he said, would fly to 80 different destinations and would have a fleet of 30 aircraft. The Federal Government had earlier unveiled Nigeria Air as the name of the new national carrier scheduled to take off in December 2018 with a logo encompassing the flowing green-white-and- green ribbon.

According to Sirika, the new airline was planned to have a white livery with the national flag ribbon around its aircraft and also have as the slogan: Bringing Nigeria Closer to the World. The elaborate Farnborough event pointed to the government’s renewed effort in recreating a national airline for the country.

Sirika said he would also explore every opportunity available at the Air Show, an event that brings the biggest and the best in the industry, to attract more prospective investors into the Nigerian aviation environment. This was based on ongoing plans at the time to establish a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nigeria, concession some airports in the country and execute other components of the Aviation Roadmap which Buhari’s government had launched at its inception with Sirika in the driver’s seat.

Broken wings set in

Incidentally, the proposed airline, which was expected to gulp $8.8 million in preliminary cost and $300 million as takeoff cost, had to be suspended. This followed the discovery that no budgetary provision had been made for the venture. Concerns were also raised over the project’s relevance and sustainability, given the economic reality at the time. This became more worrying when the aviation minister himself announced, two weeks after the unveiling, that the Nigeria Air project had been postponed indefinitely. This unexpected development opened a new chapter of controversy.

This was compounded by the controversy that ensued between Sirika and information and culture minister, Lai Mohammed, over the actual reason for suspending the national carrier before the December 2018 take-off date.

Addressing journalists at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Mohammed had revealed that investors, who were supposed to partner with the government on the project, eventually backed out.

“If the understanding of government at the beginning was that the project might be self-financing or the project would be financed by investors and you think that such a project can no longer be sponsored by investors, either because they are not forthcoming or such venture can no longer be viable, the government is at the discretion to take a decision.

“The position of the government in business is to provide the enabling environment and it is not to become the sole source of finance or funding and in addition, there is much more than funding in trying to get our national carrier. So, the Federal Government thinks this thing should be stepped down now until we get a better funding structure,” Lai Mohamed said during the official opening of LSG Sky Chefs, an in-flight catering facility, in Lagos.

Countering Mohammed, Sirika, then Minister of State for Aviation, said it was untrue that the Nigeria Air project was suspended over lack of investors. In a statement issued on his behalf by James Odaudu, Deputy Director, Media and Public Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, Sirika said a number of “well-grounded” investors were ready to key into the project.

The minister’s comment thus contradicted that of Mohammed, his information counterpart, that investors who were supposed to partner with the government on the project were no longer forthcoming.

“The Office of the Honourable Minister of State for Aviation has noted, with consternation, various opinions, comments and observations in the media regarding the status and the reasons for8 the recent suspension of the processes leading to the establishment of a Nigerian national carrier.”

“Among the reasons being bandied around for its suspension, especially in the social media, is the absence of interested and ready investors. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, as the national carrier project has an avalanche of well-grounded and ready investors”, the statement read.

This suggests that while Sirika was announcing the fantastically optimistic plan of a national carrier to the international community, the nation had no concrete plan on ground to actualise it. That anomaly consequently launched the project on the inevitable ‘Uncertainty Expressway’ where it sojourned till the end of the Buhari administration. But a huge chunk of the taxpayers’ money had been invested in Nigeria Air – a project that has remained an idea in the skies.

Enter misgivings

Well-meaning Nigerians thereafter reinforced their attention to the defunct carrier, Nigeria Airways, which collapsed due to corruption and poor management, and warned against the new national carrier towing that path. But the Federal Government had dismissed all concerns raised, insisting that the airline would begin operation before the end of 2018, following former President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to establish a national airline during his 2015 electioneering campaign.

The President of Aviation Round Table (ART), Elder Gabriel Olowo, in January 2019 criticised the Federal Government for earmarking N8.5 billion for the suspended national carrier project, Nigeria Air, in the 2019 budget proposal to the National Assembly. He also took a swipe at the government for setting aside the sum of N500 million for Transaction Advisers in the budget.

Olowo observed that if allocated to technical professionals in the country, a little of such a large sum of money would give the government appropriate advice on how to go about the floating of a befitting national carrier for Nigerians.

Speaking at the public presentation of a book titled: ‘The Learned Commander,’ authored by Captain Dele Ore, the former president of ART and a former Director of Operations at the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways, Olowo urged the government to source for consultants locally from professionals in the sector on how to re-establish a new national airline for Nigeria.

He said: “I read somewhere that the Federal Government proposed another N8.5 billion for the establishment of a new national carrier for Nigeria in the 2019 budget proposal to the National Assembly. Out of this money, N500 million was set aside for Transaction Advisers.

“If you give N500 million to people like Dele Ore and co, they will advise you on how to have a befitting national carrier. However, ART as a body will continue to fight for the interest of the former staff of Nigeria Airways. We will continue to drum it to the ears of the government that what is due to them is paid.”

Where is ‘Nigeria Air’?

Amid the reinforced public outcry, the Federal Government showed a renewed determination to wooing investors and foreign airlines to take out stakes in the venture. In April 2022, former Virgin Nigeria Airways boss Captain Dapo Olumide was named as the interim managing director of Nigeria Air as plans to float the new airline with Qatar Airways as a major stakeholder.

On June 6, 2022, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) presented Nigeria Air with its Air Transport Licence (ATL) in a development that will make the airline a legal entity. Receiving the certificate, Captain Olumide lamented the fact that it was very difficult to get the aircraft at the moment, attributing this to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation sector globally, among other factors.

He, however, stated that efforts were ongoing to get all the aircraft, as this was a basic requirement by the NCAA before the issuance of another vital certificate. Captain Musa Nuhu, the NCAA Director-General, presented the ATL to Nigeria Air which he signed, saying it would run for a period of five years from June 3, 2022 to June 2, 2027.

An ATL is issued as authorisation to airlines to provide scheduled and non-scheduled services. It is one of the licences received by airlines before they can commence operations, just as they await the all-important Air Operator Certificate that fully guarantees them the right to begin air services.

Captain Olumide added: “The aircraft are available, but there are all sorts of issues because this is the summer peak period and as you know, post-COVID-19, all the aircraft were parked in the desert. The airlines are bringing them out slowly, but it takes time to bring an aircraft out of storage.

“Then, there are further complications as a lot of flights in Europe are being cancelled or delayed because most people were laid off during the COVID-19 lockdown and they don’t have enough staff in the airports to turn around flights. So there are lots of cancellations going on.

“It is very difficult to get the aircraft, but we have discussions going on with original equipment manufacturers and we are just waiting for the right terms of the agreement. We already have the aircraft identified because that is one of the requirements for the NCAA, but we are just trying to perfect titles and so on.” Yet, most Nigerians remained unconvinced.

Despite the acquisition of its Air Transport Licence (ATL) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCCA), there were indications that Nigeria Air might eventually not take off at all under the Buhari-led government because of the faulty foundation.

Yet, the government changed gear by announcing July 2022 as the new date to start operations. The target, it was learnt, was to bring in the first out of the three wet-leased aircraft for the airline in June. But nothing was on ground to justify an optimistic stance for the near future. In addition, its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC), which would enable it to commence as a scheduled operator, was not issued.

Tough-minded optimism?

Recent reports raised concerns over the failure of the Nigeria Air project to take off after gulping N14.6 billion in four years, “under 5 percent government’s equity as consultants and stakeholders disagreed on prospects of the new airline.”

As Buhari’s tenure-end approached, Sirika intensified efforts to make his dream of Nigeria Air a reality before leaving office. The opaqueness in the deal with Ethiopian Airlines took the matter to a different dimension as stakeholders and experts condemned the deal that was lacking in transparency.

Sensing a serious threat to Nigeria’s aviation industry, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) went to court to secure an order to stop the Air Nigeria/Ethiopia Airline deal. But the move did not prevent Sirika from flying ahead.

Indigenous players act

In a press statement entitled “Nigeria Air: Recent So-called Flight Inauguration and AON Concern”, signed by the group’s spokesperson, Prof Obiora Okwonkwo, the AON condemned the desperation in Sirika’s blood to inaugurate an ill-conceived airline that had not been licensed to commence air operation.

“Nigeria Air has not been issued with an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which is the legal authority for the issuance of such certificate and as such, cannot conduct flight operations,” AOC said in a statement seen by THEWILL.

“As indigenous operators, we are happy and grateful to the NCAA for saving us from this punishment by resisting the pressure from Minister Hadi Sirika to grant an AOC to Nigeria Air without going through the due process.

“The Ministerial Committee on the Establishment of a National Carrier recommended the establishment of a National Carrier that is private sector-driven with minimum8 government involvement.

“That was jettisoned by the Minister who is the person doing everything from designing the logo, unveiling it at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK, establishing the company, providing offices etc, while the so-called private investors are saying and doing nothing,” AON stated.

Nigeria Air at large

Sirika in a recent interview on Arise News TV, said Air Peace lacked the capacity to operate the routes approved for it by the Aviation authorities, an allegation Air Peace debunked, stating that they had more than the capacity – both in infrastructure and human capital.

In response, Air Peace said, “We watched with dismay the interview granted by former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika to Arise TV on Sunday, June 11, 2023, where he made spurious claims about Air Peace, Nigeria’s foremost airline.

“Air Peace deems it absolutely necessary to debunk these false assertions.

‘First, Sirika, in his bid to denigrate Air Peace while praising Ethiopian Airline, stated that we leased ‘two’ Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months and incurred losses of $19 million while all the aircraft engines and landing gears became due for replacement when we were ready to fly. He went on to ask, ‘who does that?’

“This is a blatant lie as we have three and not two Boeing 777 aircraft which were never leased or rented, but were purchased outright by the airline.

“Air peace never incurred such a loss. We never paid rentals, contrary to his lies. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) can attest to the purchase and ownership of the Aircraft by Air peace.

“We implore the general public to disregard these lies told by the former minister of Aviation against Air Peace during the Arise TV Interview”, the airline said in a statement.