Nigeria suspends plans for a national carrier and we all saw it coming

The project has drawn reactions from a cross-section of Nigerians some of whom expressed disappointment over timing and operations of the proposed national carrier.

Majority of questions such as ownership, mode of operations and among others have kept people in the dark.

But Hadi Sirika, country's Aviation minister, noted that the decision to suspend the project was 'strategic'.

He said the suspension had nothing to do with politics or pressure from stakeholders.

“I regret to announce that the Federal Executive Council has taken the tough decision to suspend the National Carrier Project in the interim.

Aviation minister Hadi Sirika said Nigeria Air would take off in December with 15 leased aircraft and said talks have been held with manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to buy new aircraft ece-auto-gen

“All commitments due will be honoured. We thank the public for the support as always,” the minister said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Nigeria Air logo ece-auto-gen

Nigerians saw this coming

Oby Ezekwesili, Nigeria's former minister, had also predicted doom for the country’s new national carrier, the Nigeria Air.

She said the decision for establishing the new national carrier was “clearly a wrong priority” and “a waste”.

Nigeria's opposition party describes the project as a huge scam

Nigeria's opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had described the launch of Nigeria's national carrier, Nigeria Air, as a ploy to scam the country.

Kola Ologbondiyanin a statement said the project is a huge scam and 5% proposed government funding is a direct ploy by the cabal at the Buhari presidency to syphon billions of naira, using a phantom project.

Air transport workers kick

The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) had also envisaged that new airline will not kick off until the severance package of the staff of the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways, have been paid.

The group expressed concerns about the government's level of involvement in the airline despite its public claims that it will not be involved in the operations of the airline.

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Nigeria suspends plans for a national carrier and we all saw it coming

Nigeria government has suspended plans to set up a national carrier,

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