‘Why new national carrier cannot take off in December’

Contrary to the Federal Government position that the proposed National carrier will take off December this year, the  General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP), Comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu has doubted the feasibility.

This is just as the National Union of Pensioners (NUP), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) branch has dismissed the proposed take off of the national carrier in December, saying there was nothing on ground to show the seriousness of the minister in floating an airline.

The Chairman and Secretary of NUP, FAAN branch respectively, Comrades Rasaki Ope and Emeka Njoku said  that it was a welcome development when it was announced sometime ago that a national carrier will be lunched, but noted that the unfolding events had left sour taste.

The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had last week innuagurated  a nine-man task force to midwife the national carrier saying it will commence operation in December 2018.

Comrade Saidu has however opposed the formation of the committee which he described as an exercise in futility on the premise of what he termed the government’s failure to explain to Nigerians what happened to the proceeds from the sale of Nigeria Airways coupled with the government’s inability to settle workers of the liquidated airline 14 years after the airline was liquidated.

“They are playing politics, to form a national carrier is not one day. You need technical partners are they going to take over Arik. They cheaply sold Nigeria Airways which we don’t know how much it was sold for and you want to float a national carrier. The airline was wrongly liquidated.”

Insisting that it will be difficult to float a national carrier without settling the workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways, Saidu while lamenting that most of the workers have died, declared that another national carrier can not be ready in December saying “I challenge them. nothing is working in the aviation industry today.”

Blaming the two aviation Committees of the National Assembly for not asking questions on the liquidation of the airline, Saidu stated:”I challenge them to come out with facts on the proposed national airline and let us see how they will run it. They are chasing shadow without paying Nigeria Airways workers. First, they can’t succeed without telling us how Nigeria Airways was sold.”

Both Saidu and the representatives of the NUP, FAAN branch had agreed that there was no sign to show that an airline will be established by December.

“National carrier is not a motor park issue, it’s not something you just bring an aircraft and start flying, they need personnel to be trained. December is at hand but there is nothing on ground to suggest that national carrier is coming up.”

They called on unions in the aviation industry to wake up to their responsibility by asking questions on the structure of the airline to come on board whether it will be run on government, private sector driven or to be enlisted in stock market.

“The nine member committee set up by the minister will be chaired by Captain Fola Akinkuotu, the Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency with Chief Executives of the other aviation agencies and key players across the sector as members.