Nigeria Air: It should not be business as usual

MIXED feelings greeted the announcement by the Federal Government of a new national carrier: Nigeria Air. The disturbing trend over the years has been the failure that results from the Federal Government’s handling of national assets. The records are there and incontrovertible. For many years, the relics of Nigerian Airways, the once promising darling of our dear nation, haunted succeeding governments.

Nigeria’s case is an example of how a nation should not manage its assets. Politics, corruption, ethnic bigotry, incompetence and unbridled shenanigans were the undoing of many assets that Nigeria had had in time past.

It was therefore not surprising that many Nigerians, both home and abroad, expressed uncertainty about the intentions of the Federal Government in commencing operations for a new national carrier. Today, across continents, national carriers of various countries have been handled with care and therefore made to flourish. The competence displayed by these other national carriers has repeatedly improved the wellbeing of these countries: job creation and improved economy. This is not so with Nigeria.

• Edo PDP, APC differ on cleric’s petition against Oshiomhole to EFCC

Many were therefore not surprised when the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Olusegun Runsewe, called on the Federal Government not to give free tickets to politicians and government officials that would patronise the services of the new national carrier. He warned that anybody that would patronise the national carrier should be made to pay the complete air fare. He argued that the former national carrier, Nigerian Airways, failed because of free tickets to government officials and other unprofessional practices.

This should be looked into and taken seriously. Even though the Federal Government has stated that it would only have very minimal equity, the factors that would make the carrier blossom should be brought into effect. Competence should be prioritised. All shady handlings of the operations of the new national carrier should be discouraged at all costs. The various parties to the new arrangement should do all within their reach to ensure that the carrier reaches its full potential. This asset should not be allowed to go the way of the former.

Henry Ehinaya,
Owerri