Sirika And The Actualisation Of Nigeria Air

The realisation of projects for Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika have always been tough nuts to crack. A case in mind was the rehabilitation of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja  between March 8 to April 19, 2017. The minister in the heat of doubts by aviation stakeholders, engineers, international and domestic airlines poked to put his job on the line and he threatened to resign his position as the Minister if the project is not delivered on record time.. 

 

Concerning Nigeria Air, Sirika is not putting his job on the line, maybe he is used to pessimism and cynicism which the environment is throwing at federal ideas and projects. The people are not to be blamed really, because governments have failed to earn the trust of the citizenry by not providing the basics of amenities despite promises; hence doubts on bigger projects such as setting up a national airline.

 

Despite pressure and criticisms from the launch of the Nigeria Air dream in Farnborough England, on July 18, 2018, it seems, like the Abuja runway project that was delivered and deadline beaten, the airline might see the light of the day.

 

Sen. Sirika has refused to jettison the dream of a national carrier for the country. Earlier this week in Abuja he revealed plans to begin the issuance of requests for proposal to intending investors for the establishment of the national carrier on March 8, 2022; securing the Air Operator Certificate (AOC); constitution of 9-man board to manage the carrier temporarily among others

 

His words according to reports: “The transaction adviser is going to request for proposal next week Monday. Government will own five per cent, Nigerians will own 46 per cent and the international partners airlines will take 49 per cent shares.

“We will give them some weeks to respond to the request, then we will announce the winning bidder.

“Because government intends to own only five per cent of the airline shares, we are going to go ahead with the AOC (Air Operator Certificate) which has commenced since.”

 

“I believe that by April, we should be able to have our AOC ready, which means, we are ready to start. And once the AOC is in our hands, the offices are secured, the interim board is being constituted, and when they finish signing the contract, we will announce who they are.

 

“Currently, they are called interim because they will hold the airline on an interim bases up to the time the investors will come and take over. The interim members are noble people, some are Nigerians, some are not. I think they are about nine of them to run the airline and they will begin operations between now and July.”

 

 Nigeria Air would run Lagos and Abuja, “and as the situation demands, they may extend to Port Harcourt and other parts of the country.”

 

Will this course be actualised? This is the question all around the country especially in the comity of ‘Aviation Experts’. There is no one who has said the idea of an airline by the country is not laudable, what is questioned over and over again is the actualisation.

 

With the current explanation encapsulated by confidence emanating from the Minister, Nigeria is likely to see ‘Nigeria Air’ as a reality soon, though with doubts as usual in the minds of many who feel it is not going to see the daylight.