The Interim Managing Director, Nigeria Air, Capt. Dayo Olumide, yesterday, informed the Senate Committee on Aviation that the recently unveiled Nigeria Air launched by former President Muhamadu Buhari, was a chattered aircraft from Ethiopian Airlines.
He also said the aircraft was hired for five days to showcase the logo to Nigerians and their shareholders, and was returned to Ethiopia two days after the unveiling.
Recall that three days to the end of his tenure, former President Muhammadu Buhari and his Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, unveiled Nigeria Air as the national carrier.
Responding to comments from members of the committee on the aircraft painted in the Nigerian colours, Olumide clarified that it was a chartered flight.
“As a chartered flight, you can paint the aircraft in any colours you want. On a chartered flight, the aircraft was to come to Nigeria to Abuja and go back 48 hours later,” he said.
But the lawmakers, led by the Committee Chairperson, Biodun Olujimi, and Smart Adeyemi, frowned at the secrecy surrounding the Nigeria Air project, and described it as unfortunate.
They also noted that decisions taken by the handlers of the project did not add value to the sector or to the image of the country.
As a chartered flight, you can paint the aircraft in any colours you want. On a chartered flight, the aircraft was to come to Nigeria to Abuja and go back 48 hours later.
Operating a national carrier
Olumide also explained that to get a licence to operate a national carrier, the aircraft must be registered in Nigeria with all necessary procedures complied with adding this particular aircraft was not registered and came into Nigeria with a few days clearance from Ethiopia for the unveiling and was returned after use.
He continued: “For us to get that licence which is my mandate, we must have three aircraft, among other things, before the NCA will give us a license, and those three aircraft must be Nigerian registered aircraft.
“There are five steps that one goes through to have a licence. We have gone from the first one to the second one but the problem is that when you change what we call post holders. Post holder is a technical term for director of maintenance, or chief pilot, when you change them and replace them completely, you have to go back to phase one to interview them to be compliant to the authority, to the civil authority. To have gone back to phase one doesn’t mean you have done anything wrong. That is a correct and normal process.
“So when this aircraft came on a chartered flight, everybody said we have launched Nigeria Air. There are learned people in the aviation industry who could have countered that when social media came out, but they chose not to.
“We have not gotten to phase two yet. We are going to go into phase two but to go into phase two, there are certain documents you must attach to your request. One of which is called the schedule of events. There are other technical documents. We are in the process of putting these together.”
Corroborating Olumide’s comments, The Managing Director, Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mohammed Oduwowo, said: “We had an approval. We granted the aircraft a flight permit. It was meant to be a chartered flight from Ethiopia to Nigeria. It was a chartered flight. It went back the following day.”
