Daily Independent Online.
*
Wednesday, July 07, 2004.
NAL aircraft, N164bn assets rot away
By Rotimi Durojaiye
Aviation
Correspondent, Lagos
A
fleet of aircraft, equipment and four subsidiaries estimated at about N164.47
billion belonging to Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) are all rotting away at its
headquarters in Lagos.
NAL
was liquidated by the government in May last year.
Seven
aircraft; one DC 10; one Boeing 707; three Boeing 737 and two Airbus A310, all dilapidated, are
grounded at the hangar in Ikeja for lack of maintenance.
Some
are said to have been grounded due to a ban on them by regulatory bodies such
as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Air
Transport Association (IATA), others are beyond economic repair.
Four
subsidiaries of the former national carrier now in limbo include Skypower
Properties Limited (Skypol); a water treatment plant; Skypower Catering and
Hotel Limited and Skypower Printing and Publishing Company Limited.
Aviation
experts put the average cost of the abandoned aircraft at about £217.9
million (N54.47 billion), while that of other equipment and assets were valued
at about N110 billion.
One
of the Boeing 737 seen at the engineering complex at the weekend had been
stripped to the barest metal for the most complicated ‘D’ checks.
The
avionics workshop within the complex was a shadow of its former self.
Built
in 1996 at N16 million and saving NAL about N200 million annually, it once
ranked among the best in the world
Apart
from the over 2,000 workers who now wallow in poverty due to the non-payment of
their salaries and pensions for the past 15 months, four of NAL’s five
subsidiaries, established to augment its income, are in comatose.
Skypol,
responsible for maintaining all it properties, home and abroad, has gone under.
Besides
its prime self-contained houses scattered in Ikeja GRA and Ikoyi, as well as a
large expanse of land at Ayobo, a Lagos suburb - for which its staff had
contributed funds to acquire as owner-occupiers - NAL has valuable properties in all parts of
Nigeria and beyond.
The
water treatment plant on Skypol premises has been abandoned.
The
plant, meant to produce bottled and sachet water, was described as one of the best in Nigeria and
highly expected to yield good returns.
Another
abandoned subsidiary is Skypower Catering and Hotel Limited, carved out of its
former catering department.
It
was to cater for NAL inflight catering as well as the requirement of other
airlines besides outside catering services for clients.
Envisioned
as a foreign exchange earner, it was also to supply catering facilities to
foreign airlines operating to and from Nigeria.
Another
abandoned outfit in Lagos is Skypower Printing and Publishing Company, created
from its previous printing department.
It
was to compete favourably with printing establishments in Nigeria.
The
only surviving subsidiary of NAL is Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited
(SAHCOL).
A
former ground handling department of the airline, SAHCOL now handles of
airlines for passengers and cargo services.
Before
it was excised from the core airline business which NAL epitomised, SAHCOL was
equally incapacitated by the decay that had clipped the wings of the airline.
SAHCOL
made Nigeria proud by the efficient services it rendered to the American
Government and former President Bill Clinton in the handling of his flight to
Abuja during his official visit in August 2000.
All
the five companies were incorporated on March 21, 1996 under the Companies and
Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990. They became fully autonomous and functional in
October 1999.
NAL
former Public Relations Manager Femi Ogunleye said in an interview that some of
the abandoned aircraft could still be repaired and put into economic use.
“By
the time the various makers of the aircraft are contacted, they will know what
to do with them. The value of what is on the ground now at Nigeria Airways is
more than what they are asking people to bring to buy the airline”, he
explained.
Aviation
Minister Isa Yuguda has repeatedly pleaded with journalists to spare him the
agony of having to constantly explain the plight of NAL and its workers.
Announcing
the formal liquidation of NAL in May last year, the government said it took the
decision to head off compulsory liquidation by its creditors.
