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Why we chose Virgin Atlantic, by FG
By Chesa Chesa (Abuja)
Rotimi Durojaiye and
Stella Odueme (Lagos)
Local airline operators received heavy knocks on Tuesday as the
government and VirginAtlantic Airways signed a Memorandum of Mutual Understanding
(MEMU) on the newnational carrier Virgin Nigeria.
Speaking at thesigning ceremony with flamboyant British businessman
Richard Branson, AviationMinister Isa Yuguda regretted that despite personal
encouragement to domestic operators to pool resources and compete for
partnership in the project,�nothing concrete was received from them�.
Instead, �they prepared to scramble for viable international routes even
when they apparently lacked the requisite capacities to operate them�.
The venture would have been an entirely Nigerian affair, had the local
operators cooperated with the government, he said; explaining, however, that
with the signing of the MEMU, opportunities now abound for the operators to
participate positively, on collective basis, in the new flag carrier.
To him, the world has moved from public sponsorship of enterprises to
governments being mere facilitators, creating the enabling environment and
level playing field in which corporate bodies play the direct role of producing
goods and services.
�Nigeria is not going to be an exception, especially against our
peculiar background where government-sponsored enterprises, with nearly no
exception, wallowed in one form of crisis or another. Nearly all economic
parastatals were in a comatose state, attributable to successive irresponsible
and corrupt management coupled with unnecessary political interference�, he
regretted.
In his remarks, Branson said the airline, which will be launched early
next year, will be a new one for Nigeria, offering choice and value to its
customers, with domestic, regionaland international services, providing world
class safety and service.
After the signing ceremony, President Olusegun Obasanjo disclosed that
the government will not put any money into the venture.
He explained that when Branson visited him in Abuja that the government
only mid-wifed the alliance between the now defunct Nigeria Airways and Virgin
Atlantic, without intentionto invest in the new national carrier.
�Nobody should mistake this in any form or shape as the Nigeria Airways.
There must be a distinction. Government does not have a penny in it. Government
has just mid-wifedit�, he said.
The President tasked Branson to establish an excellent airline to
compete with other global ones, saying �I want to make Nigeria the hub of air
transport in West Africa and Africa�.
Investment in the new outfit is expected to reach $50 million, 51 per
cent of which is to be provided by Nigerian investors. The balance 49 per cent
will be injected by Virgin Atlantic.
However, as optimism was being expressed in Abuja over the new carrier,
more than 500 workers of the liquidated Nigeria Airways on Tuesday protested in
Lagos against the non-payment of their salaries and pensions.
Operating under the umbrella of the Aviation Unions Grounds Alliance
(AUGA), they took over partsof the International Airport Road carrying
placards.
The workers resistedthe police which tried to disperse them. They said
they were determined tomake their point even at the risk of being shot and killed.
AUGA
Chairman Olanrewaju Animashaun said the workers are not against the liquidation
of the company, only opposed to a situation where their benefits are tied to
the demise.
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