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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Govt spent N28b to get new national carrier, says group
THE Federal Government has spent over N28 billion ($200 million) in its search for a new national carrier, the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) said on Wednesday in Lagos.
The union and the workers of the liquidated Nigeria Airways have also criticised the government's choice of Virgin Atlantic Airways as the core investor and strategic partner.
These revelations were made at a press briefing, which was addressed by the NAAPE's president, Capt. Ufot Ekong in Lagos.
Ekong criticised the process that culminated in the choice of Virgin Atlantic Airways as the preferred bidder, claiming it was not neither transparent nor technically sound. He stressed that the name Virgin Nigerian was an error for the new carrier.
He also disclosed that Nigeria had lost over N28 billion since 1993 when the country first mooted the idea of a flag carrier. The loss, according to Ekong, included travelling expenses by top government officials and some other structures allegedly put in place to see the effective take-off of the "white elephant" project.
He wondered how Virgin Atlantic Airways could have outscored South African Airways (SAA) and Lufthansa on maintenance capability.
Ekong described the process as history repeating itself. He cited the former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Kema Chikwe, who also announced that a new national carrier, Air Nigeria would fly in one month. The deal failed, according to the NAAPE leader.
"On September 1, 2004 the incumbent Aviation Minister said that he too would create a new national carrier "Virgin Nigeria Airline", to commence operation on October 1, 2004,for a period of one month. This we know is not possible for obvious reasons", he said.
According to him, it takes a minimum of 90 days to go through the International Air Transport Association (IATA) processing and International Civil Aviation Organisation's regulatory inspection, to complete the processing of a new carrier if it were to be considered a national flag carrier.
The NAAPE president considered as curious, the similarity in the choice of the share capital of $50 million in both ventures.
SAA had earlier in the year been announced as the approved core investor. To be called Virgin Nigeria Airlines, the new flag carrier will have a share capital of $50 million at the equity ratio of 51.49 per cent for Nigerian institutional investors.
Ekong further argued that the issue of litigation from creditors of Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) could affect the take-off of the new airline.
According to him Nigerian Airways is allegedly indebted to Air-Atlanta, an aircraft leasor for over $9 million, with the salary, pension arrears and entitlement estimated at over N400 million.
The former Airways pilot insisted that all labour related issues must be settled before the take-off of the new airline, adding that it was based on this that NAAPE had repeatedly advised government to do the right thing.
The attitude of government, he reiterated, would further lead to capital flight, arguing that the aviation sector generated the highest income to the economy, second only to the banking sector.
He maintained that a new national carrier must follow the international norms.
Capt. Mike Okorodudu while decrying the name "Virgin Nigeria", which he said did not connote the usual singularity of Nigeria and the sovereignty status of "our nation", said the workers had appealed against the court order to compulsory liquidate Nigeria Airways.
"It is ironical that the Federal Government could respect labour laws of United Kingdom by paying all Nigerian Airways workers working in the London office with full terminal benefits, including three months salary payment in lieu of notice, but the same government would not obey similar labour laws," he added.
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