27/05/23
VICTORIOUS O D
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, Hadi sirika has unveiled Nigeria air aircraft amid court order and denied violating the court position.
A federal high court in lagos had issued an interim injunction restraining the federal govt and other parties from executing the proposed national carrier project.
The first aircraft out of the 35 proposed for the National Carrier, Nigeria air by the Ethiopian airline arrived the Nnamdi Azikwe international airport in abuja at 11:09 am on Friday, May 26th 2023, from Addisa ababa, Ethiopia
Since 2018, the federal govt has began the process of the establishing the national carrier but it was suspended due to several reasons.A year later, over 300 Bidders applied for the bidding of Nigeria air following the federal Government’s announcement calling on eleigible Bidders to apply.
Ethiopian Airlines emerged the preferred bidder for Nigeria Air, as core investor following a successful bid.
The airline won the bid with a consortium and all together the consortium will have 95 controlling shares with 49% equity, federal govt 5% while the remaining 46 are shared among other partners.
This didn’t go down well with airline operators who accused the minister of “unjust” process and filed a suit against him.
The court ordered Sirika to retrain from unveiling the Nigeria air project until the outcome of the legal proceedings but the Minister still went ahead amid uproar from Airline Operators of Nigeria.
Receiving the first aircraft at the Nnamdi azikwe international airport, abuja, Sirika said his decision did not contravened the judicial order.
In five years, the project is expected to generate about N1bn naira and expected to create more than 50,000 jobs for Nigerian youths
Dara Network TV 