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How has he been the leader of a leading airline in Nigeria in the last four years?
In the past four years, Air Peace has achieved a great deal. We have increased our roads on the west coast up to Banjul, Freetown, Dakar in Senegal and Accra in Ghana. We have increased our fleet from 7 to 24 aircraft, and we continue. We have also created new domestic routes such as Kano, Yola and Akure. Makurdi will start soon. We are still buying more planes because at the present time, the expansion of our route requires much more equipment than we currently have. Until now, we are always looking for more planes to meet the needs of members of this blessed country. One of the reasons Air Peace was created is actually to bring this country together and provide jobs for Nigerians. We believe that the more airplanes we acquire, the more jobs we can provide, the more we unite the country and the more we are able to fly connecting different countries. We have just acquired six aircraft ERJ 145, which is a lot. This particular plane will really unite this country. It just means we can fly from Benin to Port Harcourt, from Enugu to Kano, from Sokoto to Abuja, from Lagos to Makurdi, and so on. The key is to bring Nigerians together. Air Peace as today has in its organization more than 2000 staff members from different parts of this country. It's an airline that is very gender sensitive. We love and respect our women because they are very committed.
How was the "female flight" of Air Peace conceived?
Our captain is the first female captain of Air Peace. After traveling with Air Peace for a few years, she finally reached the captain position. And it was going to be a "female flight", and we had to show Nigerians how much Air Peace is supporting this country, respecting the gender, we believe in our staff, the industry and Nigeria. By the grace of God we will have more of that.
This all-female flight was the first in Nigeria. He went into history because we never had a flight where the crew of the badpit, the cabin crew, the flight engineer, the staff on the ground, the sender; all the people who attended this flight were all native staff, all Nigerians, there was no stranger. This is the first time you have taken such a step in Nigeria and this has happened only to the glory of God by Air Peace. We are indeed very grateful to God. We have a great team. In Air Peace, we are like a family; we all work to make the best of ourselves. We believe we have not arrived; Air Peace continues to improve; we still believe that we must do a lot with processes and procedures; We train people, we get a lot of help, we invest in our operations, our people, our human resources and our equipment to make sure we build a world-clbad airline. This will happen one day by the grace of God
To what extent is Air Peace prepared to face the competition that will come from the proposed new national carrier and other airlines?
Air Peace is not shaken by any existing airline. one that comes because we have our standard. We have our target. Air Peace is a specialized airline. As I said earlier, we know our vision. We try as much as possible to put in place policies, processes and procedures and to have the right team around us that could help drive the vision. So we are not worried about the arrival of an airline. Once again, the sky is big enough for everyone; What worries us, is having an environment conducive to function. We have a lot of improvements to do in the industry to help airlines survive. And once we have all that is in place in the areas of airport infrastructure, landing haze, good operational environment, then this country will have a very aviation sector viable. It is possible and feasible because it is an industry that generates huge revenues for the economy of this country. It is an industry to which the government must pay attention. We do not want to destroy it.
What exactly do you mean by favorable environment?
That's a lot; airports do not comply with the desirable standard. We have to have an airport with the right infrastructure, the landing haze, an operating environment and this multiple charging problem, which will not help the airlines. Airlines must compete favorably with their international counterparts. The favorable environment is the key to the industry.
Is the government's attention drawn to these challenges?
Yes, of course, they know about it. But I must tell you that the government has indeed tried. Give it to our minister. The government is doing its best to give the industry a conducive environment for operators. We have the question of zero exemptions on aircraft space, which the minister has done; it's a huge relief for operators; the question of VAT that is removed from transport, these are things that they do to make life easier for operators. But then there are still other areas to consider. There are only three or four airports open 24 hours a day in Nigeria. That is to say that only 10 to 20% of airports in Nigeria operate 24 hours a day. If you have airports in the country where you can not take the plane after 17h-18h, how are you going to break? If you have problems with the weather in the morning and you have delays in departures, the flights are pushed later in the day, when it is 18:00 and you can not accommodate some of these flights, it results cancellation of flights and it's a huge loss in the process. Airplanes are not supposed to sit on the ground, they should fly. You can not have a single checkpoint at the airport to facilitate more than 2,000 pbadengers within three hours. How is it possible? Pbadengers do not understand all these challenges. If these things are examined, the industry will be a more favorable place for all.
How did you become the first woman CEO of Air Peace, which is a leading airline in Nigeria?
I did not become General Manager of Air Peace through a written request. No! I applied as a security manager and was employed in February 2014, for the same position. Two months later, I went to the School of Aeronautics in Sheffield, United States and got my Federal Aviation Authority (FAA license). When I came home in early June, I was still chief of security, responsible for overseeing the duties of the entire operation because you must be everywhere, all departments; If you are talking about aviation, your priority is safety that involves engineering, lighting, capping, human resources, and so on. I have participated in the examination of so many things in maintenance, in operations; I did my best not knowing that my direction was watching me.
Fateful Midnight, my president called me and asked me about the conversation we had earlier. I have repeated all the things I have said. He then said, Ok, check your mail, for a mail sent to me. I picked up my laptop and here I saw a letter from Human Resources (HR) congratulating me as Acting General Manager and CEO of Air Peace. Then, I shouted out loud that she woke my husband; he jumped and asked what was the problem? The shock could not let me speak; I pushed him to the laptop.
This was the last thing I expected, there was no one, no interview, no clue, no briefing or at least ask if I could get into the big shoe; nothing like it at all. But that night, I knelt, I raised my hands to God, praying and said, "God in heaven, for the sole reason that I did not know anything about this meeting, I put Air Peace in front of you to make it a success. Yes, I've been responsible for the departments of an airline but not an entire airline; I do not know what it means to run an airline. But here we are four years after bathing in the grace of God.
After our years, what does it mean to be the very first female doctor / chief operating officer of an airline?
humiliated and very grateful to God. It's very exciting and at the same time it's a lot of responsibility because you have a lot of people watching you and who can not be disappointed. It's a challenge in reality, but at the same time, you know that a lot of people are watching you, you want to keep giving the best of yourself, especially for young women, you want them to know that nothing can stop anybody. If you decide to achieve something, it is possible and feasible. If I can be the chief operating officer of this airline today, no matter who, no matter what woman, no matter what woman, no matter what. which lady or any girl there can also be COO from any airline or industry in the world; it is feasible with a lot of determination and God on his side. That I firmly believe.
Give us a snapshot of this Air Peace MD?
I studied chemical engineering at the University of Lagos. In my clbad at the time, we were seven girls struggling with boys. My first job was at Zenith Bank, I landed the job before going to the National Youth Service. After two years, I moved to the United Kingdom to join my husband and while I was there, I went to Cranfield University and I studied human relations and personnel management, after which I came back home and started my career Quality Assurance Inspector; From there, I moved to Dana Air, where I became Deputy Chief of Security for four years, 2010-2014. When Air Peace came on board, someone caught my eye to join and run their security department.
You have won so many awards in a short time.
Almighty God has been on our side. When we get appointments, we simply believe that God is at work and that we are working hard and we are committed to doing it. We have a president who is very pbadionate and focused on this airline. He is ready and willing to run Air Peace as an airline should be run. It does not stop investing, it does not stop to provide the necessary resources, it gives this airline a solid base to be able to withstand and resist the test of time. That's what you see in the prices that Air Peace now receives, simply because the airline relies on very solid foundations.
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