‘Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority not part owners of Nigeria Air’

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has clarified that the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) is not among the private equity ownership of the Nigeria Air project as earlier announced.

This is contained in a statement issued over the weekend by the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to the minister, James Odaudu, where he quoted Mr Sirika as saying the NSIA is not in any way involved in the Nigeria carrier bidding process.

He said: “We wish to clarify that the Authority (NSIA) is not involved, in any way, as part of the private equity ownership of the airline, being a government establishment.”

It could be recalled that last Friday, Mr Odaudu had stated that Ethiopian Airlines is the core investors in Nigeria Air with 49 per cent shareholding, mentioning NSIA as being among the three Nigerian investors with 46 per cent equity.

He had quoted Mr Sirika as saying: “After a careful, detailed and ICRC governed selection process, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) Consortium has been selected as the preferred bidder, offering an owner consortium of 3 Nigerian investors MRS, SAHCO and the Nigeria Sovereign Fund (46 per cent), FGN owning 5 per cent and ET 49 per cent.”

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However, Mr Odaudu now states: “It should be noted that the NSIA was not mentioned in the Honourable Minister’s presentation, but only in the general brief given to the media, an error made during its preparation.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the equity ownership structure of Nigeria Air stands as; Ethiopian Airlines 49 per cent, Nigerian private investors (SAHCO, MRS and other institutional investors) 46% and the Federal Government per cent.

“The public, especially the business community and the media should please take note.”

The proposed national carrier, Nigeria Air was initially unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show in England on July 18, 2018, with a proposal to gulp $8.8 million as preliminary cost and $300 million as takeoff cost, but was suspended two months after its unveiling due to concerns raised by critics on its sustainability and relevance.

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‘Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority not part owners of Nigeria Air’