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By Chinelo Obogo
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has said that criminal investigation into the botched Nigeria Air project has begun, assuring that no stone would be left unturned to get to the bottom of the deal that was massively rejected by most Nigerians.
He also ruled out the possibilities of any Nigerian airline being designated a flag carrier.
In a television interview yesterday, Keyamo denied allegations that he was working with a local airline to designate it a flag carrrier.
He said he has since informed all the local airlines that none of them would be designated a flag carrier as there are plans to set up a proper national carrier.
“I will push for a national flag carrier and I am working on one. But I want to state publicly that no local airline would be designated a flag carrier. No one should think that I am working with any local airline to promote it. I am saying as a matter of policy and I have informed them that no local airline would be designated a flag carrier.
“We would establish a proper national carrier. Many investors are already talking to us on this issue and that is why I am surprised at the Ethiopian Air deal because there were better deals on the table, so, why did the former team go for the Ethiopian deal?” he asked.
Speaking on the botched Nigeria Air deal that was hatched by his predecessor, Hadi Sirika, in which Ethiopian Air was to get 49 percent shares, Keyamo said a criminal investigation was ongoing and that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would be interrogating those involved in the deal.
“A flag carrier is different from a national carrier, so while we were being told that a national carrier is coming in. What we saw was a foreign airline trying to fly the Nigerian flag. There is an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the Nigerian Air deal. I don’t know those who are involved in the investigation and I would not undermine the agency. But the fact on the ground is that there is an ongoing investigation, that is the honest truth,” he said.
Nigeria Air, founded in 2018 with ownership stakes divided among Ethiopian Airlines (49 per cent), Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) (46 per cent), and the Nigerian Federal Government (5 per cent), received its first aircraft in May 2023 but has since remained inactive.
Keyamo, at a Federal Executive Council (FEC) in November last year, expressed concerns over aspects of the deal signed between Sirika on behalf of the Federal Government and Ethiopian Air over Nigeria’s proposed national carrier.
He said that among the terms of agreement between the Nigerian government and Ethiopian Airline, which was the major investor in Nigeria Air, was that the national carrier would be given a five-year tax waiver, a move he said would have destroyed domestic airlines. He stated that critical details of the agreement with Ethiopian Airlines required reevaluation, citing concerns about staffing arrangements and the potential for creating a monopoly at the expense of other local airlines.
On the furore over the relocation of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos, Keyamo said the agency has no space in Abuja and that 80 percent of the staff live in Lagos and have so far spent over half a billion naira on air tickets to Abuja.
