Dennis Erezi
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo on Monday said the Nigeria Air project remains suspended.
Keyamo said this while providing updates at the ministerial press briefing in Abuja to mark Tinubu’s first anniversary.
“It remains suspended. It was never Air Nigeria. It was not Air Nigeria. That’s the truth. It was only painted Air Nigeria. It was Ethiopian Airlines trying to flag our flag,” he said.
“If it is so, why not allow our local people to fly our flag. Why bring a foreigner to fly our flag? So nobody should dispute that it was Air Nigeria.
“Air Nigeria must be indigenous, must be wholly Nigerian, and must be for the full benefits of Nigeria, not that 50 percent of the profit is for another country.”
Keyamo reiterated that the ownership structure of the suspended airline is not beneficial to the country.
In 2023, a former minister of aviation Hadi Sirika unveiled Nigeria Air days before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
Sirika announced that Nigeria had a 5 percent equity, while a consortium of three Nigerian investors had 46 percent with Ethiopian Airlines owning a 49 percent equity stake.
Keyamo announced suspension of the national carrier project in August 2023 till further notice.
