The Commission of Representatives has declared the launch of Nigeria Air a ‘fraud’ following the confession by Captain Dapo Olumide, acting chief executive of Nigeria Air, that the plane with its logo had been flown by Ethiopian Airlines rented for this purpose. logo announcement.
Olumide told the Senate Aviation Committee that the airline still does not have an operating license for full flight operations, saying the processes are still in the early stages. Following the disclosure, the Senate Aviation Committee criticized Nigeria’s announcement, saying the project was shrouded in secrecy.
In a meeting with Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation Emmanuel Meribole; Acting CEO, committee members expressed apprehension about the launch of the national airline. During the meeting, the Chairman of the Senate Aviation Committee, Senator Biodun Olujimi, questioned why former aviation minister Hadi Sirika was in such a hurry to announce the national airline on the last day of Muhammadu’s administration. Buhari.
Captain Olumide said the plane used to launch Nigeria Air was a charter flight from Ethiopian Airlines and that after the launch, the plane returned. The chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, said the launch of Nigeria Air was a fraud.
The Committee, after carefully assessing the issues in the discussion, was completely dissatisfied with the actions of the former Aviation Minister, Sen, Hadi Sirka, who decided to report the Nigerian Air activities in an irregular manner. subject to a permanent injunction by the court. arrange. to support airline operations. “We are also not satisfied with the role Ethiopian Airlines has played in this whole process. This doesn’t say much about the wonderful brotherly relationship that exists between our two nations.”
A careful examination of the process revealed that the exercise was opaque, shrouded in secrecy, shoddy and capable of mocking and tarnishing Nigeria’s image to the international community.
We would like to acknowledge that the Commission and indeed Congress had no role in the alleged launch of Nigeria Air or anything related to it. While the Commission and indeed Parliament have no objection to Nigeria having a national airline, in practice it is highly desirable for us as a national airline to have a national airline. people and for Nigeria as a country. However, such a process must be transparent and inclusive.
As a committee, we will not accept any attempt by any individual or group of individuals or organizations to conceal the project and extract our common assets. Accordingly, the Commission decided to order the Federal Ministry of Aviation and its partners in the Nigeria Air project to immediately suspend flight operations and all other actions against Nigeria Air;
Urges our new President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of GCFR and C-in-C, to urgently establish a High-Level Presidential Committee to conduct a comprehensive review of the processes of the entire project. the Nigeria Air project and advise the government on the roadmap to be followed.
They seek to ensure that any individual, group or organization involved in the controversial scheme called “Nigerian Air Takeoff” is brought to justice, prosecuted and punished.
Olumide said the plane is being used pending the completion of the necessary procedures for the airline to operate. He said his mission was to get an airline operator certificate for the airline, not necessarily to run the airline, but to get a license to fly.
“The aircraft that came in and left was a legitimate charter flight. Anyone of us here if we have a destination wedding in Senegal, we can charter an aircraft.
“You don’t need to have a licence to do that, you just charter an aircraft, an aircraft you paid for it, it will be brought here, take your passengers and off you go.
“And that is what we did. but in this case, it was to unveil the Logo of Nigeria Air. Ever since 2018, all you have ever seen about Nigeria Air were pictures, drawings not the real aircraft, and we thought it was time to show what the real aircraft will look like also to let shareholders see,” Olumide said.
He added: “We have institutional investors, they are not in aviation but they are putting their money for 10 to 15 years, so they need to see what the actual aircraft will look like.
“So we brought it in here to show them what the aircraft will look like, then the social media dimension came into it. For us to get that licence which is my mandate, we must among other things have three aircraft before the NCAA will give us a licence and those three aircraft must be Nigerian registered aircraft.
“So when this aircraft came on a chartered flight, everybody said we have launched Nigeria Air, there are learned people in the aviation industry who could have countered that when social media came out, but they chose not to.”
