The federal
government has reiterated its plan to establish a national carrier stating that
Nigeria with its size certainly deserves a national carrier.
The permanent
secretary, Ministry of Aviation, Mr Yemi Adelakum stated this in Lagos
yesterday during a tour of Sky Catering Company Limited, a subsidiary of former
Nigeria Airways where he queried the management of the company to explain why
they leased its facility to First Nation Airways a domestic carrier, which
operates from its premises.
The permanent
secretary also lamented the fact that smaller African nations are positioning
themselves as aviation hubs in the region with foreign airlines reaping
immensely from their operations in Nigeria while many Nigerians remain
unemployed.
He directed
the management of the Sky Catering to forward to the ministry through, the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, details of the approval for the use of
the facility by the airline.
He challenged
the management of the firm to ensure that it furnishes it with the relevant
documents of the operation of the airline at its facility, which he described
as unofficial.
He queried
the audacity of the firm to collect money from the airline without remitting
same to the ministry of aviation, the body supposedly in charge of supervising
the firm.
He said:”We
are trying to see how we can take aviation section to the next level, so we
want to go back and see the wrongs of the past and see where we can correct
them that is why we decided to come for this tour to see for ourselves what is
on ground. In fact like here used to be Nigerian Airways property (Sky Power
catering services) and we want to see what has become of it.
“The purpose
is to take this sector to the next level so that all of us as Nigerians we can
fly and be proud of the sector. “We are also looking at the possibility of
bringing back our national carrier, if Gabon or Gambia can have their airways
why not Nigeria?
“We are not
doing magic but we want to start, if we start it today if we cannot complete it
in the next six months somebody else will continue from where we stopped.”
“Safety and
security first and foremost, we have to secure our airspace, we have to make
our customers very comfortable, they have to be happy, bringing it up to the
world standard, that is what we are looking at and particularly giving Nigeria
as the West African hub.
“We can not
be as big as this and allow Togo to take over the hub from us, it is not
acceptable. And all the foreign airlines are making a lot of money out of
Nigeria.
We are
complaining about employment, this is an industry that can employ so many
Nigerians, so we want to bring that back.”
He further
said:”Well, there is a lot of improvement, we have seen some of the airports
all the air conditions are working from what we have seen, those that are not
working they are being repaired and we can see that customer service is being
inaugurated.
” We have
just started the digital service in the public service so that passengers
having complain have a place to go and report.”
Speaking
further on the proposed airline he said “It is going to be run as a commercial
entity where you and I can be part owners of that organization, we have
foreigners who have expertise, who have money, who have technical know-how to
be partners in that. It is not going to be a government business like Nigeria
Airways.”
It will be
recalled that the plan to package a national carrier by former minister of
Aviation, Stella Oduah did not succeed as the effort was not transparent
enough.
On the issue
of operating from Sky Catering premises, Managing Direcctor of First Nation. Airways
said, his airline has a six years lease on the facility with valid papers.
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