By Chinelo Obogo
Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has written to the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu, warning against granting an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) to Nigeria Air.
In a letter titled Notification of Court Order siting Suit No. FHC/L/CS/2159/2022 between, the registered trustees of the AON & ORS vs Nigeria Air Limited & ORS, the Counsel to AON, Burreini Jimoh (SAN), warned the NCAA to desist from dealing with the Minister/the Federal Ministry of Aviation and/or their agents, privies or representatives, pertaining the AOC, to avoid consequences of disobedience of Court Orders.
AON, which is the umbrella body of airline operators in Nigeria, had approached the court seeking the interpret ation of the law as it affects the process of procuring the services of Ethiopian Airlines for the operation of the proposed Nigeria Air.
In contesting the process of appointing Ethiopian Airlines for the management of the proposed Nigeria Air, AON argued that the Ministry of Aviation ignored the legally mandatory stages of the public procurement process as stipulated in the law establishing the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).
According to AON, the law mandated the advertisement of the appointment of an operator for the proposed airline in three national newspapers. It told the court that the federal government ignored the law by advertising only in two national newspapers and one foreign newspaper.
AON further argued that the law could be breached only in emergency situations where the National Assembly could not convene to amend it, adding that, there is no emergency in the process of appointing an operator for Nigeria Air to warrant a transgression of the law.
The court then granted the AON and order of interlocutory injunction restraining the issuance of AOC to the airlines, to this end, AON’s counsel warned the NCAA in a letter to desist from making moves to grant Nigeria Air an AOC.
The letter read: “We are solicitors to the plaintiffs in the above quoted suit April 19, 2023. The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos presided by Hon. Justice A.L Allagoa, in the above suit, granted orders of interim and interlocutory injunctions, in the terms contained in the order, restraining taking of any step in relation to the Nigeria Air project.
“You are therefore notified to desist from dealing with the Minister/the Federal Ministry Of Aviation and/or their agents, privies or representatives, pertaining the Air Operator Certificate (AOC), subject matter of the suit, to avoid consequences of disobedience of Court Orders.
“As a law abiding regulatory agency, you are under the watchful eyes of the world and it is in your interest to desist from any further action on the AOC process that will ridicule the integrity of the agency before the global aviation community.”