Nigerians on social media have taken turns to berate President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika over the government’s failure to deliver the much advertised proposed national carrier – Nigeria Air.
Sirika had shortly after coming into office in 2015 launched an aviation development roadmap that included a new national carrier and other interventions in the country’s aviation sector as priorities.
According to the aviation minister, the proposed national carrier is a wholly private sector airline with the federal government having a five percent stake.
He had disclosed that the federal government would hold 5%, 46% goes to Nigerian entrepreneurs while the remaining 49% would be reserved for strategic equity partners including foreign investors.
The Minister went on to assure that Nigeria Air would officially commence operations in April 2022, a project which he said would create about 70,000 jobs for Nigerians.
However, 1 month after the expiration of the first quarter of 2022, there are no signs of takeoff despite an offer made by Emirates Airline to assist Nigeria in establishing the national carrier.
