The Federal Government has suspended the national carrier (Nigeria Air) project, according to the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika. Sirika said the decision was taken at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting for strategic reasons.
He, however, did not give details of the “strategic reasons” for the cancellation of the project. He said: “The government at the FEC took the decision to suspend the national carrier project till further notice. “It has nothing to do with pressure from stakeholders and it also not for political reasons. “
The decision to come up with national carrier in the first place was as a result of the lack of capacity of the existing carrier to meet demands,” he said.
I regret to announce that the Federal Executive Council has taken the tough decision to suspend the National Carrier Project in the interim. All commitments due will be honoured. We thank the public for the support as always.🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬
— Hadi Sirika (@hadisirika) September 19, 2018
On the possible thinking of the international interested parties, Sirika said the government had shown serious commitment towards the project, adding that the suspension would not affect government’s credibility before international interested parties.
The minister had on July 18, unveiled the name and logo of the airline named “Nigeria Air” at the Farnborough Air Show in London. He had announced that the airline would begin operation in December with an initial capital of 300 million dollars. Sirika had also stated that the airline would be private sector driven with the government controlling only 10 percent of the equity.
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