All public servants will be compelled to fly Nigerian carrier – Aviation minister
The Federal Government has said it has commenced moves to compel public servants to travel on a Nigerian carrier.
Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said on Tuesday that the move would affect persons who would have bought their tickets with public funds.
He said the government is putting measures in place for the National Assembly to pass a ‘Fly Nigeria Act’ in order to achieve this target.
Sirika also addressed claims that the recently launched Nigeria Air has no domain name.
“As part of efforts to make airlines viable in Nigeria, the ministry is making moves to have the National Assembly pass a fly Nigeria Act,” he said in a statement.
“This Act will require that anybody travelling on a ticket bought with public funds must travel on a Nigerian carrier unless the route is not served by a Nigerian carrier. However, with your private funds, you can do as you like. Many countries, including America, have such Acts.”
“On conclusion of the PPP procurement process, when full equity structure pre-financial close is finalised, the incorporation will be updated and the certificate of incorporation made public. Nigeria Air Limited is indeed a legal entity.
“Further to the incorporation of the company with nominal directors, the domain name, www.flynigeriaair.ng, has been reserved and will be made active very soon as part of the project evolution and marketing process. Some people, whose only desire is to steal Nigeria’s commonwealth by hawking domain names, will not a get a kobo from the people of Nigeria. They can eat their domain names,” he added.
The minister also maintained that the FG is not paying $300 million for a 5% stake in Nigeria Air, as being speculated in various sections of the media. He said the government is only providing startup capital for the airline.
“The current campaign of falsehood, unfortunately reminds me of what happened when we decided for safety reasons to close the Abuja airport and make repairs that had been abandoned for years,” the minister said.
“The same group of Nigerians went to the social media spreading falsehood. We stayed on course and delivered the runway, which has served now faultlessly. As we delivered on the Abuja runway repairs, so shall we on the national carrier and we will not bow to falsehood.
“Nigeria’s PPP process has three phases. One is an internal government bankability process, the business case phase; and the other two external. The process cycle is PPP development phase, outline business phase and PPP procurement – request for qualification and request for proposal to prequalify and select PPP partners; and PPP implementation.”
