Spread the love
Since 2015, it has been policy somersault in Nigeria. Government in power appears not to be prepared for a definite direction. Perhaps the feelings of those in power is that, governance is an auto machine that works by mere wish. So, their resolves has been to say what people may love to hear, so as to generate meaningless accolades. In their quest for same, they seem to have resolved to try everything opposite the policies of their predecessors; thereby taking our economy from the fastest growing in Africa, to the bottom.
From the days of their campaign, I knew that disaster was looming. An instance that betrayed this was their pledge to recover all loots and share same to the poor. I knew immediately that, their economy mindset is pedestal. Even a school certificate failure, who had at least attended economics class for a term, should know of the relationship between inflation and money in circulation.
When their “bail-out” slogan came, I knew it will bring us here. Today, we may jointly access the impact of the bail out. To the best of my knowledge, there are states that collected over N30 billion as bail-out, and yet, still owes 30 month salary arrears.
Governance is not by wishful thinking but by intellectual mindset and assemblage of testable policies. The revolution we have today in our banking and of course, telecommunications sectors, is never an accident. It was borne out of concrete and empirical decisions.
When the news came to me that, the government has a renewed intention to bring back, or establish a new national carrier tagged “Nigeria Air,” in our aviation sector. I began to wonder what the real intention is? I have argued against the rebirth of a new national carrier severally in the past because I am sure it will not work.
Like I have argued in the past, the aviation sector is a familiar terrain to me. For several years, I was an Aviation Correspondent in Nigeria. During that time, Nigeria invested billions into d bottomless pit of a second national carrier to be called AIR NIGERIA, to compliment Nigeria Airways (WT). Air Nigeria did not take off, d billions of Naira could not be accounted for. The only thing they did from d money was re branding one planes of Nigeria Airways in “Air Nigeria” colour. It did not fly for one day.
Even if it did, it wouldn’t have survived because, it would have operated in d style of Nigeria Airways whose tickets are often predominantly non-economic tickets (free).
Free flight for themselves and families of the who is whos is what they are after. I remember sometime in 1995 or 1996, I was on Abuja-Lagos trip aboad Nigeria Airways, we were about 70 passengers in a B737 flight. Almost all of us were with free ticket.(Including myself). The only person that I knew paid for his ticket was a friend of mine whom I begged to join me on the flight. His choice was ADC or Bellview. I succeeded in wooing him to join me on Nigeria Airways.
Truly, that was the kind of situation that drove Nigeria Airways into insolvency, being chased about by both foreign and local creditors like ADWOK. The irony is that, when our big men have need 2 pay for flights, they go to private airlines, the ADCs of those days, the Bellviews the Kabos, the Okadas, the Chachangis and the EAS of my former state governor in Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada.
I was so disturbed by this trend one time that I took on the then minister of Aviation, Commodore Nsikak Eduok when he chartered a plane from the fleet of a private airline for official tour of the Nigeria airports for N5million.
Eduok was gentle enough as a military officer to apologise, though he initial called a World Press Conference to castigate and to call me names, believing that I was sponsored against him. When it became obvious that I was challenging his patriotism as a federal minister, he confessed that he was misled by ministry officials. He commended me for d courage to speak. To give him credit, during his short stay, Nigeria Airways enjoyed some level of official patronage.
One issue that borders me now is why are we talking of a national carrier when we just sold it off together with its multi billion Naira maintenance hangar? Why all these policy somersault?
I worked with the Public Relations team of British Airways (BA) for six years, handling Media Relations for the international airline. I did know at that time that BA tried its best to make Nigeria Airways (WT) survive.
Unfortunately, there were frustrations here and there. I do remember that BA even offered to purchase a brand new plane for Nigeria Airways and use the proceed of a joint BA/WT venture to off set it gradually, but the then Aviation minister, Kema Chikwe called it a Greek gift. We tried our best at that time to tell those that cared that some persons somewhere were working against our national carrier but some people felt I was doing the bidding of BA.
Now, we don’t need a national carrier for anything. Private airlines can be designated to service our bilateral air services agreements, and they will do it more effectively. BA is not the property of British Government. Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airline is also a British national carrier on many routes.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo left Nigeria Airways with 32 planes in 1979. When he returned in 1999, he met only one serviceable plane.
Hence, together with Atiku Abubakar, they took the decision to sell off our national carrier to complete the process of full liberalisation of the Nigerian aviation sector.
I am heavily persuaded that, the return of Atiku will mark an end to directionless policies and the continuation of the great Obasanjo/ Atiku’s economic magic.
Let’s be “ARTICULATE.”
– Pastor Stanley Ajileye (JP)
Spread the love
