The acting Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Dayo Olumide, on Tuesday, disclosed that the airplane that landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on May 26, 2023, was a chartered one from Ethiopia.
Olumide, while speaking before the Senate Committee on Aviation, stated that the plane was chartered from Ethiopian Airlines to launch the country’s official airline, adding that his mandate is to secure an operating licence for the airline that is still in its early stages.
He said;
“It is a pleasure to be here and to finally make our position known where I can clarify all the misconceptions regarding Nigeria Air as it pertains to the technical aspects of it.
“As you know this airline was launched with the logo in 2018. Several things have transpired since then that has nothing to do with me.
“I was invited last February, my mandate is to secure an air operating certificate for the airline not necessarily to operate the airline but to secure a licence to fly. And that is entirely my responsibility.”
Senator Olujimi, Chairman of the Committee on Aviation, expressed her thoughts on the situation adding that the arrangement of the Nigeria Air was shrouded in suspicion.
Olumide, while responding to Olujimi’s question said the aircraft, causing the conversation did not require a licence, as it was hired.
He said, “I will like to address your question first before I go on. The aircraft that came in and left was a legitimate charter flight. Anyone of us here if we have a destination wedding in Senegal, we can charter an aircraft.
“You don’t need to have a licence to do that, you just charter an aircraft, an aircraft you paid for it, it will be brought here, take your passengers, and off you go.
“And that is what we did. But in this case, it was to unveil. Ever since 2018, all you have ever seen about Nigeria Aircraft were pictures, and drawings, not the real aircraft, and we thought it was time to show what the real aircraft will look like and also to let shareholders know.
“You see we have institutional investors, they are not in aviation, but they are putting their money for 10 or 15 years and to exit may be at the premium. So they need to see what the actual aircraft will look like.
“So we brought it in here to show them what the aircraft will look like. Then the social media dimension came into it.
“It is an Ethiopian-registered one. Why is it Ethiopian-registered? To operate aircraft in Nigeria, they must be Nigerian registered; on 5th November. That aircraft was not on 5th November registered because it was a chartered flight and it came in with just a few day’s clearance and off it went.
“For us to get that licence which is my mandate, we must among other things have three aircraft before the NCAA will give us a licence and those three aircraft must be Nigerian-registered aircraft.”
“There are five steps that one goes through to have a licence. We have gone from the first one to the second one but the problem is that when you change what we call post holders.
“Post holder is a technical term for director of maintenance, or chief pilot, when you change them and replace them completely, you have to go back to phase one to interview them to be compliant to the authority, to the civil authority. But haven gone back to phase one doesn’t mean you have done anything thing wrong. That is a correct and normal process.
“So when this aircraft came on a chartered flight, everybody said we have launched Nigeria Air.
“There are learned people in the aviation industry who could have countered that when social media came out, they chose not to.”
House of Reps declare Nigeria Air launch a fraud
The House of Representatives has declared as fraud, the purported launch of Nigeria Air at the twilight of the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari.
Nnolim Nnaji, the chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, declared the launch of Nigeria Air a fraud after the major stakeholders in the deal between the Federal Government and Ethiopian Airlines denied knowledge of the launch.
The Ministry of Aviation claimed Nigeria Air was only unveiled and not launched, which the committee dismissed as an attempt to divert the lawmakers’ attention.
Members of the committee were shocked when NAMA disclosed that the aircraft bearing Nigerian colours was on a chartered flight to Nigeria, saying a chartered flight could be painted in any colour and with any inscriptions.
The Informant247 had reported that Hadi Sirika, the former Minister of Aviation, in the last minutes to the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, unveiled Nigeria Air aircraft.
Sirika unveiled Boeing 737 aircraft with registration ET-APL at the Nigeria Air Operations control centre of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja.
The ex-Minister, while disclosing that the demonstration flight would commence soon as part of the procedure to commence operations fully, noted that more aircraft are expected to arrive until the airline reaches the 35-aircraft mark in the next five years.
Sirika also said no law stops the ministry or anybody from bringing developmental growth to the country.
He said: “This is one infrastructure that has been missing in general aviation in dynamics of the country; the airline that is equal to the size of dynamics of the market in Nigeria for its geography and fortune, indeed, we do need the kind of infrastructure that we are having today in the name of Nigeria Air limited.
“This Nigeria Air Limited is obviously an entity known to Nigerian laws and the partnership between entrepreneurs in Nigeria and entrepreneurs in the Ethiopia Airline consortium.
“The consortium is a company belonging to many partners and it is a very long journey, we started in 2016 and ended up today.
“There were challenges but we did not allow them to make us lose focus and today we are here. We pray that it will be good for our country, its people, its future, and humanity.”
On the litigation and if his action amounts to subjudice, he said: “It is not subjudice because if it is, we are not going to embark upon it. No law stops us from continuing to bring developmental projects to our people.
