Senator Hadi Sirika
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has again emphatically declared the government’s commitment to a private-sector driven aviation industry.
Speaking at the just-concluded discussion on the future of global aviation at the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sirika also used the opportunity to explain why Nigeria needed a national airline and commented on the country’s response to COVID-19 pandemic.
On Nigeria’s response to the pandemic, Sirika said: “The countries have to do it. Look at the case of Nigeria. We have 200 million people in Nigeria and most of them living close to each other in cities jam-packed with 20 million people in Lagos and 40 million people in Kano, something has to be done unless people would die. We closed the country immediately at that time. And that is why in Nigeria, up till today only 3,500 death recorded from Covid19, and just about 250, 000 infected and 245,000 discharged from the hospital.
Responding to a question posed to him by the CNN international Travels correspondent, Richard Quest if he believed the statistics about Nigeria on the pandemic, Sirika retorted: “Yes I believe. Otherwise, people would have been going to the grave unexplained. It worked very well, then, gradually things began to ease out and business began. Don’t forget before COVID-19, Nigerian aviation became the fastest growing sector of the economy. The airlines are doubled, passengers numbers quadrupled, numbers of airports doubled all during President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration 6 years.
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“Absolutely, When we came with the Buhari government in 2015 I became the minister. We were committed to a roadmap to establish a National Carrier, to concession the airports, to set up a leasing company, to establish cargo facilities and we have been doing that.”
On why the Buhari government wanted a national carrier, the minister responded: “Nigeria is situated at the centre of Africa, equidistant from all locations in Africa. 30.4 million square kilometres miles, 1.5 billion people, very green land. If Central and Eastern Africa is the belt of the continent, then Nigeria is the buckle. 200 million people and rising middle class, propensity to fly is high. Nigeria is a candidate for National Carrier.”
Sirika who insisted that the coming national carrier will be private sector driven added; “Private. Yes. 5 per cent government and no government stepping right in that company, no government control, no membership of government on board. Totally private and committed.
“Whatever we say we will do as a government since 2015, it has happened. that is why Tim Clark of Emirates, Qatar Airways and all of them are looking to go into Nigeria in multiple frequencies and multiple landing points because Nigeria is the right place for the airline business.
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