Muhammadu Buhari, whose calamitous presidency came to an end on May 29, 2023, is by no means a fool. He is, indeed, the quintessential child of this world, referred to by Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible. As they come, the children of this world are adept at securing themselves, even when they cannot deliver on honest assignments.
Within the duration of eight years of his presidency, Buhari presided over what may yet be the most pervasive sleaze in government in Nigeria. It was more or less organized crime of sorts. He could not have been oblivious of the sectoral devastation that some of his associates and lieutenants were visiting on the country. The fact that he hardly found anything wrong with those his lieutenants to warrant their being dropped spoke of his approval of their respective conduct. While the various barely-concealed malfeasance were raining on various sectors, Buhari saw no evil, heard no evil and, therefore, made no effort to stem the tide. He remained the honest man he was said to be.
With an overwhelming burden of manifestly corrupt acts in his government fluttering before the public as he left office, Buhari’s main strategy for securing himself at the end of his tenure turned out to be a vile and disingenuous plot. He made sure to enthrone a heavily compromised successor, steeped so deep in personal crises as to have the moral guts to question the acts of his predecessor. It surely was no happenstance, therefore, that the former President foisted the most fractious and ignoble transition on the country. The setting has given him time to move on, leaving the country to make what it will of the mess he left behind.
Just before the Buhari government left office last week, it capped the orgy of malfeasance that defined much of the government with one last fraud, for the road. It bequeathed Nigeria a non-existent new national carrier. For many years, the Buhari government had talked about floating a new national airline. Many Nigerians did not consider that a priority need, but no matter!
Into the second term of the government, as it gradually wound down its tenure, it became obvious that a new national carrier may not be feasible, after all. In any case, a tardy attempt by Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika to bring in a foreign entity to manage the new carrier was vehemently resisted to the point that it ended up in litigations involving stakeholders in the aviation sector. That was how the plan of a new national carrier found itself grounded before it could fly. So much money had, however, been appropriated for the project, according to reports. So what happened?
Two days before the Buhari government ended, the aviation minister, a close lieutenant of the President, borrowed an aircraft reportedly belonging to Ethiopian Airlines, hurriedly painted it in Nigerian colours in Turkey, landed the borrowed aircraft on the tarmac of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and proclaimed to Nigerians; ‘behold your brand-new Nigeria Air’, promised by the Buhari government. A swindle could not be more audacious and mendacious. The drama was a portrayal of the type of dare-devil malfeasance that prevailed while the Buhari government lasted. Sadly now, who will ask the necessary questions? Till date, neither the minister nor any of his aides have stepped out to present any contrary side to the reports about the Nigeria Air saga in his last few days in office.
Sirika’s parody of Nigeria Air would have been laughed off as a parting joke, if it had not crystalized into a national tragedy with an international dimension. Of course, Buhari did not care. He never cared.
At the time Buhari came to office as an elected President in 2015, Nigeria’s national carrier, Nigerian Airways, had ceased to exist for 12 years. The airline last operated in 2003.In its heyday, Nigerian Airways had up to 25 aircraft and was a dynamic airline, effectively servicing domestic and international routes such as Europe, Saudi Arabia and much of Africa. The airline eventually died, killed by abuse, corruption, nepotism and indiscipline, the very problems that have continue to pin Nigeria down.
Sirika’s seeming determination to see to the emergence of a new national carrier had indeed seemed a positive passion at the outset. Subsequently, in apparent pursuit of the goal, the Buhari government allocated money for the purpose, reportedly totalling about N85.42 billion, released between 2016 and 2023. The allocation was to cover consultancy and working capital, yet nothing was seen by Nigerians either on ground or in the air resembling a new national carrier.
When Mr. Sirika decided unilaterally to contract Ethiopian Airlines to come in and manage Nigeria’s national carrier, aviation stakeholders vehemently rose against the plan. The matter eventually ended up in court, where it has rested ever since.
Then suddenly, in the twilight of the Buhari government and Sirika’s tenure as aviation minister, out of the blues, it was announced that the said national carrier was now ready and would indeed touch down in Abuja in two days. Many dismissed the notice as a joke. Aviation stakeholders reminded the government and Sirika that a court case was still subsisting on the matter.
In any case, floating a fresh national airline required a painstaking process that, apart from adequate financial outlay, entailed building a new core of requisite manpower as well as meeting a long checklist of aviation industry protocols, professional certifications and demands, which were elaborately stipulated and meticulously monitored by international aviation controlling bodies, for safety and seamless operations.
There was no indication that the Buhari government was ready with the basic requirements for floating a national airline. That was the concern of aviation stakeholders in the country. In the end, all those concerns and logic did not sway Sirika from doing what he was determined to do.
Thus did Sirika cause an aircraft to be flown into the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport two days before he exited as aviation minister. On the aircraft was inscribed “Nigeria Air.” A press release was issued announcing to Nigerians that, finally, a new national airline had landed. Of course, it did not need to take off to anywhere.
The swindle was an amateur work though. Time must have caught up with the plot. A little inquiry by relevant persons easily established that the aircraft on which was inscribed “Nigeria Air” was indeed a re-pained 10-year-old aircraft belonging to Ethiopian Airlines. The aircraft had reportedly been leased to Malawi in 2014, returned to Ethiopian Airline in 2015. It was flown to Turkey a few days earlier, painted and inscribed “Nigeria Air” and on May 26, three days before the end of the Buhari government, the beleaguered eagle landed in Abuja, answering Nigeria’s national carrier. A cursory check further revealed that the ownership of the aircraft was not even changed. It remained a property of Ethiopian Airlines. Sirika and his accomplices obviously did not have time to arrange a short-term lease, at least. They could only do paint work. For good measure, the aircraft has promptly returned to its owners, Ethiopian Airlines, after its cameo outing in Nigeria. Pray, what type of country is Nigeria?
How so disdainful and scandalous can a government and its officials be? Yet, Buhari had the temerity to tell Nigerians that he left the country better than he met it. Nigeria surely was not that bad.