After years of planning to float a national carrier, the government of former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan decided to launch an airline in 2013 under a programme that would involve Aero Contractors, Nigeria's oldest commercial airline forming the core of the project. Looking for a replacement for Nigeria Airways, which folded in 2003, ministers considered into entering a joint venture with a foreign airline, floating a new company and contracting out the project before settling for Aero Contractors as a last resort.
However, the venture failed at the last minute and upon assuming office on May 29 this year, President Buhari decided to revive the project. He set up a committee chaired by Captain Abdulsalami Mohammed, which engaged in wide consultations and received a number of memoranda in the course of its sittings.
It has now finally submitted its report to the government and upon the appointment of an aviation minister, the project is expected to be revived. Receiving the report, Binta Bello, the permanent secretary in the aviation ministry, explained that the inauguration of the committee was based on a directive by President Buhari to advise government on appropriate modalities for the establishment of a national carrier.
Captain Mohammed said: “The creation of the committee on the establishment of a national carrier has generated a lot of excitement and comments both in the print and electronic media as well as in social media networks since its inauguration. It was therefore not surprising that we received a lot of memoranda from interested stakeholders within and outside the country.
“We consulted with a total of 74 stakeholders, ranging from airline operators to aviation agencies, service providers, financial consultants, institutional investors, aircrafts and parts suppliers and former staff of Nigeria Airways. Our committee has provided far reaching recommendations, which if accepted and implemented by the federal government, will have a positive impact on the aviation industry in Nigeria."
His committee was inaugurated in Abuja on August 25 and given four weeks to complete its assignment. In the past, the federal government had made several failed attempts to float a national carrier after the demise of the Nigeria Airways which was established in 1971 following a buy-out of the equities of Elder-Dempster and British Overseas Airways Corporation.
For over 40 years, Nigeria Airways served as link to various destinations locally and across West and Central Africa and to Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia. However, according to an aviation consultant, Chris Aligbe, the Structural Adjustment Policy of former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida in the in the 1980s dealt Nigeria Airways a devastating blow which eventually led to its grounding.
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