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Ethiopian Airlines Emerges Core Investor In Nigerian Air….as New Airline Recruits Nigerian Pilots, Cabin Crew

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By Elizabeth Okwe

Ethiopian Airlines has been confirmed the preferred bidder of Nigeria Air, following a successful bid.

Aviation Minister Senator Hadi Sirika announced this at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday.

According to him, the airline and a Nigerian consortium won the bid and they will have 49% and 46% controlling shares respectively.

The Minister disclosed that Ethiopian Airline was the only airline that met the bidding close date and also met the evaluation criteria.

He stated that the consortium has been subjected to a due diligence process, after which the contract will be negotiated between the consortium and the FGN, leading to a Full Business Case, which will be expected to be approved Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The federal government according to Sirika expects this process to take six to eight weeks.

The report stated that Nigeria Air will launch with a shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos to establish a new comfortable, reliable and affordable travel between these two major Nigerian Airports.

Other domestic destination will follow thereafter, adding that the Request for Proposal (RFP) under the PPP act, governed by ICRC, is completed.

“An interim Executive Team of highly skilled Aviation Experts has been working since FEB 2022 to set up all the necessary regulatory and industry requirements to launch the National Carrier. All Executives have been approved by NCAA, the Air Transport License has been issued by NCAA, Nigeria Air (after having identified the first three aircraft) will now finalize all necessary Operation Manuals and then go through the inspection and approval process of NCAA.

Read also: Nigeria Air plans to take off amid fuel, forex crises

“The money spent for the launch of Nigeria Air, for all the requirements to establish an AOC and be admitted starting an airline operation, is well within the 5% capital investment of the Federal Government of Nigeria, that will be overall needed to establish the National Carrier initially for the AOC approval and everything else required by stringent national aviation regulations, as prescribed in the FEC approved Outline Business Case (OBC),”

Meanwhile, the new airline, against the expectations of some stakeholders in the sector that it will take off with foreign Pilots and crew, has taken steps to recruit Nigerian Captains, First Officers, Senior Cabin Crews, Cabin Crews and other critical staff.

The airline in an advertisement posted by the Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation, Dr James Odaudu on Friday said it will be “launching shortly with Boeing 737-800 (NG) aircraft, followed thereafter with B787 aircraft for international operations”.

“The new airline will be owned by a Nigerian private investor consortium together with a 5 percent federal government holding, including Ethiopian Airline’s shareholding,” the company said in the advertisement.

The positions to be filled include qualified and experienced Boeing 737 captains, first officers, senior cabin crew and cabin crew, and engineers (B1/B2 preferred).

The positions, it stated, are based in Abuja or Lagos with “competitive salaries to be offered”.

“All qualified and interested candidates are to visit the application portal for other open positions which will be available shortly on the website www.nigeriaair.world,” it said.

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Aviation

Flight Diversion: NCAA Investigates United Nigeria Airlines ✈️

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By Elizabeth Okwe

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has commenced investigation into the circumstances surrounding United Nigeria flight NUA 0506 to Asaba and the confusion it has created in the public domain.

This is according to a statement signed by the Director General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu.

The statement however affirmed that preliminary steps have been taken pending conclusions of ongoing investigation.

“The Authority wishes to reassure the traveling public that it will leave no stone unturned as it has always done in the past to ensure continued safety of the aviation industry” it concluded.

But in its defence few hours after the incident, United Nigeria Airlines claimed the flight was diverted to Asaba as a result of bad weather.

Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, the airline spokesperson, said the pilot was properly briefed about the diversion, noting that the cabin crew made “wrong announcement upon landing safely in Asaba [and] created confusion among the passengers.”

Capt. Musa Nuhu DG, CAA

However, unconfirmed reports indicate that the regulatory agency may have suspended the operations of wetleased aircraft in the stable of United Nigeria Airlines pending the conclusion of the investigations.

According to the sources, the Civil Aviation Authority is not satisfied with the explanations of the airline and is determined to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the flight misdirection.

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Aviation

Omni-Blu AOC: Olateru Duely Resigned as Director of Airline, NCAA DG Affirms

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Contrary to recent reports regarding the involvement of the Director-General of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Engr Akin Olateru in the management of Omni-Blu Aviation, a jet and helicopter charter company, it has been revealed that the NSIB Director-General actually resigned his position as a Director in the company before taking up appointment with the company.

Director general, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu who has put the controversy to rest, has also revealed that the documents provided by the management of Omni-Blu aviation show that the Director General of Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Engr. Akin Olateru, duly resigned from the company before taking up appointment with government.

Capt. Musa Nuhu DG, NCAA

The NCAA DG spoke yesterday at the launch of a book ‘Handbook on Public Relation Practice and Aviation Reporting’, written by Sam Adurogboye, former public relations manager of NCAA.

He said the NCAA only asked somes questions in the course of the processing of the AOC which some quarters have conined to be suspension.

“It is unfortunate that it is coined that NCAA has suspended the AOC processes of Omni-Blu Aviation. One of the directors of Omni-Blu who is DG NSIB, Engr. Akin Olateru, a very close colleague and a friend of mine is a shareholder in Ombi-Blu and this was something he had before he came to the public service. Just because you came to public service does not mean you should wipe off your previous years.

Engr Akin Olateru
Director-General /CEO, NSIB

“There was just a question from NCAA that it appears there was a conflict between this application and the Act of NSIB and NCAA. So, they were asked to respond and they responded. He has provided all the documents, he has shown proof he has resigned and he has declared his interest in those organisations. So, he has provided the appropriate documentation to show that there is no conflict of interest.

“We cannot wipe out our previous lives just because we got to work for government, but there are conditions. In an industry that you are a CEO or a staff, you cannot have an interest, but there are procedures and he has given proof for those procedures; he has showed us that he actually resigned and that letter is actually confirmed by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). He showed that he has done all the necessary declarations to show that he has resigned.

“The only thing is that he has given the necessary documents required, but we have to take it through the normal procedures, legal process so that when documentation is done that he has been cleared, somebody tomorrow will not go and challenge it. It is important to go through the process of clearing him so that the records are put there. Anybody that comes in the future, can look at the file, see that the issue was raised, but the appropriate information had been provided and individual is cleared”, he said.

Nuhu said the process would be completed during the new week.

“However, in this new week. It would have been done, but our legal adviser travelled out with me. So, we will work on it and the process will continue.”, he added.

He said the conflict of interest aspect has also be resolved.

It was reported last week that the NCAA had suspended the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) processes for Omn-Blu Aviation (OBA), which would enable it to operate as a scheduled operator.

Ombi-Blu currently operates as a chartered helicopter and jet company.

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Soludo Renames Anambra Airport After Literary Icon, Chinua Achebe

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By Elizabeth Okwe and Ojone Grace Odaudu

Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has renamed the Anambra International and Cargo Airport, Umueri, to Chinua Achebe International Passenger and Cargo Airport.

In his speech at the 63rd Nigerian Independence Anniversary which took place at Dr Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, on October 1, Soludo informed the applauding large audience that the airport was named after Achebe after wide consultations because Chinua Achebe is an African and global hero.

Soludo recalled that in his lifetime, Achebe declined to accept two high Nigerian national honours in protest against what he perceived as injustice to his home state that had tacit support from high officialdom.
For Soludo, it’s now incumbent on Achebe’s home state of Anambra to honour Anambra’s greatest gift to the literary world. Mr Governor stated that his administration will work in tandem with the Federal Government to offer an international airport worthy of the Achebe legacy.

Chinua Achebe is globally acclaimed as Africa’s most influential writer. His classic novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, ranks amongst the greatest novels ever written in the world.

Achebe was the founder of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in 1981 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where Soludo was then a young student.

It needs to be stressed that Achebe was not just a writer. He was at once also a critic, activist, organiser, publisher, politician, and an uncommon leader who served as the President-General (PG) of his native town union in Ogidi, Anambra State. As a national political leader, Achebe was the Vice-Chairman of Aminu Kano’s Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) of the Second Republic.

A man of unshakable principle, Achebe wrote the following words when he rejected the award of the high national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) in October, 2004: “I write this letter with a very heavy heart. For some time now, I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connection in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency.” Achebe also rejected the award when it was re-offered in 2011.

If he were to be alive today, and seeing the dire circumstances of the country, Achebe would have made his word count as he did in his 1983 epochal book ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’ that began with these famous damning words: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.”

Chinua Achebe’s oeuvre is indeed intimidating starting from the legendary Things Fall Apart in 1958 and grandly lapping all the way through No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, A Man of the People, Anthills of the Savannah, Girls at War and Other Stories, Beware Soul Brother, Morning Yet on Creation Day, The Trouble with Nigeria, Chike and the River, Home and Exile, Hopes and Impediments, The Education of a British-Protected Child, There Was A Country etc.

When Chinua Achebe died at exactly 11:51pm (US time), that is 4.51am (Nigerian time), on Thursday, March 21 at the Harvard University Teaching Hospital, Massachusetts, USA, aged 82, it was one death that shook the entire world as tributes came pouring in from all the continents of the world, from presidents down to paupers.

The great Kenyan novelist, Ngugi wa Thiongo, who Achebe mentored paid him this tribute: “Achebe bestrides generations and geographies. Every country in Africa claims him as their own.”

The then American President Barack Obama extolled Achebe thusly: “A revolutionary author, educator, and cultural ambassador, Chinua shattered the conventions of literature and shaped the collective identity of Nigerians throughout the world. With a dream of taking on misperceptions of his homeland, he gave voice to perspectives that cultivated understanding and drew our world closer together. His legacy will endure in the hearts of all whose lives he touched with the everlasting power of his art.”

Soludo has delivered a universal masterstroke by renaming the airport to Chinua Achebe International Passenger and Cargo Airport, Umueri. Global tourists will in due course flood in because of the Achebe appeal in the same manner that Bard College, New York, USA built the Achebe House in the University.

Governor Soludo’s drive to turn Anambra State into a liveable and prosperous homeland that will be a destination point instead of a departure lounge has received the ultimate uplift with the naming of the Achebe International Airport.

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