The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has said that the controversial national carrier, Air Nigeria, remains suspended Indefinitely.
Keyamo disclosed this in Abuja on Monday during the ministerial briefing to mark the one year anniversary of President Bola Tinubu in office.
Recalled that the former minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika unveiled Nigeria Air few days before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
However, the controversial national carrier was suspended in August when the new aviation minister announced the suspension of Air Nigeria over ownership concerns.
On the Airline, it was reported that the federal government had a 5 percent equity, while a consortium of three Nigerian investors had 46 percent.
Reacting to the deal in June 2023, the House of Representatives asked the federal government to suspend the operations of Nigeria Air, describing it as ‘a fraud’.
In August 2023, the Minister, Keyamo announced that the national carrier project was suspended till further notice.
While at the Ministerial briefing the Minister said the airline remains suspended, adding that it was never Air Nigeria, saying It was not Air Nigeria. “That’s the truth. It was only painted Air Nigeria. It was Ethiopian Airlines trying to fly our flag”, he said.
According to him, “It remains suspended. It was never Air Nigeria. It was not Air Nigeria. That’s the truth. It was only painted Air Nigeria. It was Ethiopian Airlines trying to fly our flag.
“If it is so, why not allow our local people to fly our flag. Why bring a foreigner to fly our flag? So nobody should dispute that it was Air Nigeria.
“Air Nigeria must be indigenous, must be wholly Nigerian, and must be for the full benefits of Nigeria, not that 50 percent of the profit is for another country”, the Minister added.
The Minister also pressed further that Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have agreed to resume cargo flight operations.
Nigeria’s Keyamo who revealed that he just returned from Saudi Arabia where he met his counterpart, made it known that everything steps have been taken for the cargo flights between the two countries, which was suspended, to resume soon.
