Nigeria: the new airline raises very mixed reactions

The recent announcement by Nigerian Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika of the establishment of a new national airline, Nigeria Air, by the end of the year, is causing very mixed reactions in the country

In a press conference at the Farnborough International Air Show on Wednesday Sirika explained that his government had "a moral and social responsibility to create a new air carrier".

The country has been without a national airline since the closure of Nigeria Airways in 2003, a debt-ridden company that eventually succumbed to financial difficulties.

Supo Atobatele, editor of Air Transport Quarterly and former door of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, said this change was long overdue.

"An airline flying our flag around the world will strengthen the international image of our country," he told AFP.

But reactions to the announcement are far from all positive, however, given Nigeria's unenviable track record in aviation.

More than 40 airlines went bankrupt in Nigeria in the last 30 years, including Nigeria Airways, which collapsed under the weight of debt in 2003.

Fifteen years later, many former employees have not yet received their wages and pensions, according to the unions.

Supo Atobatele believes that the new carrier must be protected from political interference in order to survive. "The main reason Nigeria Airways failed was that it was a social service, not a business, and Nigeria Air should not suffer the same fate," he added.

The secretary general of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Olayinka, Abioye, said he was worried about the use of public funds to finance the new airline.

"What will happen to the fate of the national airlines that have been assigned the routes of the defunct Nigeria Airways," he added. "Will they be excluded from these routes when the new national carrier goes into service?"

For Abolaji Odumesi, a frequent traveler to Lagos, there is no need to launch a new airline.

"We should have resuscitated Arik Air and Aero Contractors to form the core of Nigeria Air since they were taken over by the government because of their huge debts," he added.

More and lastly, that Nigeria had more pressing issues to resolve.

Former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili said a national airline was "clearly a bad priority" and a "waste" of money that could be better spent elsewhere.

Some 86.9 Many of Nigeria's more than 180 million people today live in extreme poverty, and this proportion may increase as the population grows.

Only a tiny minority benefited from the billions of dollars generated by oil production. Corruption and mismanagement left public services in tatters and infrastructure inadequate

President Buhari, who would like to be re-elected in February 2019 had made the revival of a national airline company a campaign promise in 2015

But for most Nigerians, the plane remains a luxury.