MINISTER OF AVIATION INTERACTS WITH THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AVIATION OVER THE ALLEGED NON TRANSPARENT AND HANDOVER OF THE NIGERIA AIR TO THE ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES
Hon. Chimaobi Ebisike, member of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation and his colleagues had an interactive session today with Sen. Hadi Abubakar Sirika, Minister of Aviation and members of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) over the alleged non transparent and handover of the Nigeria Air to the Ethiopian Airlines..
Some of the very important questions that were raised during the interactive session includes; How much is Ethiopia bringing to the table as immediate FDI cash injection to own 49% of Nigeria’s huge Aviation market? Who valued the market and what value did the Ministry of Aviation place on our market? What value does 49% represent? That is, 49% of what value are they contributing? Whose interest is this contract serving, our nation, private individuals or Ethiopia?
Hon. Chimaobi Ebisike, member representing Aba North and South and his colleagues argued that the economic implications of this move will only make Ethiopian airlines have direct access to Nigeria’s local and international destinations while still operating into the country as a competitor; that it will lead to huge depletion of Nigerias foreign exchange as the airline will be repatriating huge sums of funds while contributing little or nothing as FDI; lastly it will kill the Nigerian domestic air transport market and lead to massive loss of jobs.
Local investors like Airpeace through its chairman Mr. Allen told the committee that his airline have the capacity to manage the Nigerian air. He informed the committee that local investors and operators have invested heavily in the Industry and provided hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs to Nigerians, so why are they being undermined? He added that Airpeace has over 35 aircraft in its fleet and has started receiving the brand new planes they ordered. The airline made an order of 30 brand new E195-E2 aircraft plus 20 brand new Boeing 737 max. These orders are in excess of over two billion dollars. So they have capacity to manage the Nigerian air just like Ethiopia.
After several deliberations, the interactive session was adjourned to Monday, the 24th of October, 2022.
