Nige­ria Air: Stakeholders query identity of 95 percent investors, directors

As the Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation is set to launch a new national carrier, Nige­ria Air, players in the sector say the government still needed to clarify some of the grey issues in the im­pending airline.

About a month to the scheduled date for the airline to commence flight services, industry players say apart from the Federal Government that said its total equity in the new nation­al carrier is just 5 percent, other 95 percent entrepreneurs— 46 percent for local and 49 percent foreign inves­tors— remain unknown till date.

 Sen. Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation, had earlier in the year said private investors are going to raise $250 million (about N147.5 billion at the alternate market at N590 to a dollar) for the national carrier.

The industry analysts also faulted the Air Transport Licence (ATL) received from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and doubt­ed if all the processes leading to the acquisition of the cer­tificate were followed by the government.

Besides, it was gathered that the impending carrier would before the end of this month commence the man­datory demonstration flights with three wet-leased aircraft.

It is expected to carry out the demonstration flight with complete personnel for 50 hours to some of the routes it intends to operate into in preparation for the acquisition of Air Operator Certificate (AOC). This is in accordance to the NCAA regulation for an impending carrier.

But some of the industry players want the government to clarify some of the grey areas in the entire process, fearing that without this, the airline may not be able to stand the test of time.

Engr. Femi Adeniji, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), TAL Helicopters, queried the trans­parency of the process.

Adenji said that barely a month to the commencement of the services, 95 percent in­vestors were unknown by the Nigerian public.

Besides, he emphasised that so far, the identity of the board of the directors of the airline remained a secret to majority of Nigerians and charged the populace to com­pel the government to answer some of the hidden queries.

He said: “I don’t understand if there is transparency in the Nigerian aviation industry as the minister claimed and the director-general of NCAA said in all their transactions that the system is not corrupt.

“If the Federal Govern­ment has 5 percent of Nigeria Air, who has the remaining 95 percent? They need to dis­close the form, the CAC 07 and 02 will show the names of the directors involved in the Ni­geria Air. The tax clearance submitted to NCAA and the NCAA form for ATL applica­tions should specify the names of the directors; they should have bank accounts, evidence of solvency and this is sup­posed to have been published in the newspapers for 28 days.

“Which newspapers did they publish this? Which newspapers did they publish their registration? Where is the business plan that was done? Are they supposed to be gazetted by the Federal Government? What about the Department of State Services (DSS) clearance? Why are we like this? I saw the pictures taken and I respect Capt. Dapo Olumide very well. I will be surprised if he can be pushed into a situation like this. Then, who else?”

Also, Capt. Roland Iyayi, aviation analyst, doubted if the government followed due process in its pursuit of a na­tional carrier for the nation.

According to him, it takes almost a year to secure an ATL by an applicant, but he said this was done within a few months by the government.

Iyayi declared that the es­sence of safety certifications like ATL and AOC were to en­sure that an applicant could operate safely, stressing that each of that processes is to establish competency and credibility, which he alleged may have been circumvented because of the involvement of the government in the airline.

“The government is setting a bad precedent. It is saying that you can do anything and get away with it. If the world sees that you do not have stan­dards, it will ultimately come back to you to bite.

“If you say you have a safe process to procure an AOC, why will you tell the public that you can get the national carrier to procure an AOC within a few weeks? So, they are giving us the impression that this particular national carrier that the rules don’t ap­ply,” Iyayi said.

On the other 95 percent in­vestors, Iyayi challenged the government to put such infor­mation in the public domain in order to avoid speculation.

“Ultimately, they fly the name of Nigeria and not just the name of anyone. How do you know who these individ­uals are? These are factors we need to know. You just don’t wake up to say ‘we are setting up a national carrier; don’t bother how we did it.’ We need to know how you did it.

“I think there are a lot of issues that are needed to be addressed by the government. Accountability is key. Trans­parency is very important,” he said.

On the use of wet-leased air­craft by the government, Iyayi noted an airline could com­mence operations with leased options or wholly owned air­craft, but, said on the side of the government, this shows contradiction, especially as the government had promised to create 70,000 jobs within three years of commencement of operations.

“It may not necessarily be the best way to go, but it’s a way of setting up its own structure,” he said.

Grp. Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd) in his submission won­dered if the government was facilitating a national carrier or intended to set up one.

He also queried if the three wet leased aircraft the govern­ment intended to use for opera­tions had been certified fit for operation by the NCAA.

Ojikutu also queried the currency of the licences of the crew and like others, ques­tioned the identities of the oth­er 95 percent investors in the national carrier.

He likened the wet leased option to capital flight and advised the government to rather look at other alternative routes in setting up an airline.

“The only one we have been hearing is the one with only 5%; will the airline start off with 5% holding capacity? Then we are not ready for a national carrier, but a govern­ment carrier that will not have a long span like those before it.

“Get the foreign techni­cal investors to come in and there are many in the US, Canada and Australia. There are many Nigerian corporate investors too that can give us contemporary global airlines with those from the developed countries and away from the homegrown somersaults air­lines,” Ojikutu said.

Capt. Ibrahim Mshelia, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), West Link Airlines, insisted that the government would not create the promised 70,000 jobs with the use of wet leased aircraft.

Mshelia pointed out that this option creates room for engagement of foreign pilots, engineers and perhaps the cabin crews, while the indige­nous technical personnel are unemployed.

“A government that is sup­posed to create jobs for its peo­ple cannot be exporting jobs for people. You think this will happen? It can never happen.

“Even, me, I will go on the streets to protest this and carry placards to the Villa. Allow our young people to get jobs. Go and get Nigerian registered aircraft or dry lease it,” he said.

Though, when contacted Capt. Dapo Olumide, the Inter­im Managing Director of the airline, declined comments, but had last week in Abuja said that the objective of the national airline was to restore the pride to Nigeria outside the country.

He said some of his team were already abroad sourcing for best deals on the aircraft they would deploy for Nigeria Air.

He also said the national carrier because of the capac­ity would leverage the over 80 Bilateral Air Services (BASA) agreements to access more routes and access more possi­bilities, thus creating employ­ment opportunities down the value chain.

From the unveiling of the livery, logo and name of the airline in June 2018, to the suspension of the project by the Federal Executive Coun­cil (FEC) in the same year, Sen. Hadi Sirika had assured that the much awaited airline would take off before the end of Muhammadu Buhari’s gov­ernment.

The minister had said the airline would begin operation in April and later the com­mencement date was shifted to July and disclosed recently that the airline would be private sec­tor driven with the government having a 5 percent stake. (Daily Independent)