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Obviously, the tenure of the present government is speedily winding down as it is left with two full months for it to step aside for a new government to come in and try its strategies.
The aviation sector like other sectors of the country’s economy is presently at a standstill as all attentions of the government and its officials are diverted to the ongoing electioneering campaigns.
As expected, between now and the month of Mach when all elections into the various offices particularly that of the president would have been completed, topmost officials like ministers and members of the National Assembly will be deeply involved in politicking with little or no time to continue with the responsibility of performing their statutory roles.
This is the present state of the country’s aviation sector where majority of the projects proposed by the government through the minister of aviation, Senator. HadiSirikais uncertain with no assurance that they will be completed before May 29, 2023.
While the idea behind most of the projects are good, it is on record that the mode adopted by the minister to achieve the goals fell short of expectations which subsequently rendered such projects incapacitated.
Top among such projects that would have helped reposition the sector if well packaged ab initio included the airports concession plans and the controversial new national carrier project, Nigeria Air that would have raised the bar in the sector two decades after the unjust liquidation of the defunct Nigeria Airways.
With particular focus on the new national carrier project which the present government on assumption of office promised to deliver to Nigerians, after over seven years of going backward and forward with huge public funds sunk into it, the project is almost becoming one of the political summersaults of the government for many reasons ranging from lack of transparency and team work among many other reasons raised by key players.
As good as the idea of having a go at another national carrier would have been, the minister started on the wrong footing of having the notion that he could achieve the national project without inputs from other stakeholders including the different professionals and the airlines.
The various loopholes raised by the different key players in the national carrier projec and with the minister’s ‘I don’t care’ attitude, the initial hope of having a new national carrier flying the flag of the country around the world is blowing in the wind of uncertainty.
It is no longer news that after several changes in the dates for the take off of the new airline by the government, the closer it seems, the farther it becomes in view of the questionable packaging embraced which questioned the sovereignty of the country in view of the composition of the packaged investors and the technical investors in the proposed airline.
Again, it is no longer news that the height of the drama came when the domestic carriers who are the direct key players in the sector came together to approach the court to stop the government and the Ethiopian Airlines from delivering the new national carrier.
Amongst major reasons for kicking against the Ethiopian Airlines/Nigeria Air project by the domestic carriers and other groups included the argument that rather than lift the image and economy of the country, the proposed composition of investors in the new airline was to the advantage of foreign investors as the majority ownership goes to foreigners.
Besides the near zero benefits of the packaging to Nigeria, the arrangements also tilted towards giving unnecessary incentives to the new airline at the detriment of the domestic airlines who have invested heavily in keeping the sector afloat.
However, while all hands are on the deck to see how the court will determine the Nigeria Air case, the tenure of the government is drawing closer to an end with many asking if the proposed airline will take off before the advent of new government.
The latest update on the national carrier debacle came up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia early in the week when President Muhammadu Buhariwas said to have met with the Ethiopian Airlines Board Chairman, Girma Wake during when they exchanged views on the operationalization of Nigeria Air.
While President Buhari expressed the confidence that ‘things will be alright’ considering the take-off of the national carrier, the Ethiopian board chairman called for a resolution of the legal obstacle halting the take-off of the airline.
Though the declaration of President Buhari in Ethiopia has shown that the national project carrier is still feasible even within the two months left for the tenure of the government to elapse, the court case hanging on the project is however critical to making this dream a reality.
As Nigerians wait to see how the government intends to wriggle out of the too many banana peals on its way within the little time it has, it is hoped that all the due diligence required to float a new national carrier that will stand the test of times would have been met.
Any attempt by the government to rush to float a faulty national carrier that will end up collapsing due to unresolved litigations and other unpopular grey areas may further damage the general image of the country before the global space.
In all honesty, because time is too short for the government to continue with the project, it would have been good to leave it for the incoming government to review and come up with a project that the country will be proud of twenty years after the liquidation of the defunct national carrier.
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