Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has revealed that the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari granted undue advantages to Ethiopian Airline in the operation of the botched Nigeria Air.
While briefing reporters at the State House on Monday after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Keyamo said the previous government granted full tax waivers to Ethiopian Airline, which had won the bid to operate the suspended Nigeria Air, in order to operate the carrier.
“I cannot preempt my president. We have forwarded all the documents and reports to Mr. President,” the minister said.
“It would have been irresponsible of me as minister to take over office to close my eyes totally to the concerns raised by Nigerians and the National Assembly. So, because of that, we suspended it to look at all the issues and recommend.”
“We have now looked at all the issues and it’s before the president. Let me just give one or two snippets because of Nigerians who are quick to judge.
“In the agreement, Ethiopian Airline asked for full tax waivers for five years and the government granted them. You are granting tax waivers to an airline to come and compete with local airlines who are paying heavy taxes. You will be creating a monopoly and they will claim they want to crash all prices by seventy percent. It’s a lie. That’s rubbing Peter to pay Paul. Once they drive every other person out of the market, they will now hike prices.
“They also made a proposal in the agreement that they would appoint Ethiopians from top to bottom of the management in Nigeria and we agreed. I am just giving you snippets.”
The proposed Nigerian national airline became a subject of national discourse two days to the end of Buhari’s administration.
Hadi Sirika, Keyamo’s predecessor, launched the airline on May 26 with an aircraft. The aircraft was presented as new. But it was later revealed that it was a refurbished one that actually belonged to Ethiopian Airline.
Keyamo suspended the commencement of the airline’s operations on August 31 to interrogate all the arrangements involved in the bidding process. “A few months after Nigeria Air was launched with so much fanfare, using a borrowed airplane, it is now suspended. I owe it to the government and Nigerians to provide an honest assessment,” Keyamo said.
