Mixed Reactions Trail National Carrier Plan

L-R: Regional General Manager, FAAN, Mrs. Ebele Okoye, Manager, Public and Government Affairs, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Mr. Yemi Fakeyejo, and DGM, Aviation Medical Dr. Nuhu A. Nwadi, during the flag-off ceremony of free health care campaign for Omagwa, at the Port Harcourt Int’l Airport, Omagwa, recently.

Airline owners, labour
leaders and other stakeholders in the aviation industry last week expressed divergent views on federal government’s plan to set up a national carrier.
The stakeholders who spoke at a conference organised by League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, also condemned the slow pace of work in the industry.
Whereas many of them did not see any need for a national carrier, others posited that a successful national carrier would be the fulcrum of development in the aviation sector.
Industry consultant and the CEO of Belujane Konsult, Mr Chris Aligbe said Nigeria needs a national carrier but one that government would not have more than 10 per cent stake in and the rest owned by private investors.
He said Nigeria would continue to lose over $1.9billion annually to capital flight, taken out by foreign airlines and in the next few years this would rise to over $2.3 billion.
Mr Aligbe added that establishment of national carrier would enable Nigeria and Nigerian airlines to benefit from this huge market.
He said it would be difficult for Nigeria to trap back the aforementioned sum of money taken out of the country every year by international airlines without a national carrier, because existing Nigerian airlines lack capacity.
“Present Nigerian airlines cannot provide the needed capacity. They come and go, but they grow. I don’t believe in a national carrier that is owned only by government. Most of the airlines existing now cannot negotiate for Bilateral Air Service Agreement  (BASA). Nigerian airlines suffer form congenital infantilism. So government should declare the aviation sector an infant industry. Nigerian airlines may not get the support they expect from government because government cannot intervene in what it does not have equity in,” Aligbe added.
On his part, industry analyst, Mr Fidel Ohunayo said national carrier may not succeed now because government cannot run business successfully.

Stories by Felix Okogbule