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Nigeria Air To Take Off April 2022, Says Aviation Minister
The Nigeria’s national carrier, Air Nigeria, is expected to take off by April 2022. The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has disclosed.
The Minister disclosed this on Wednesday after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, disclosed this when he along with Ministers of Transportation, and Finance, Budget and National Planning, Rotimi Amaechi and Dr Zainab Ahmed, respectively, briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting.
According to Sirika, the national carrier will be run by a company in which the Nigerian government will hold a 5% stake, Nigerian entrepreneurs holding 46%, while the remaining 49% will be reserved for yet-to-be assigned strategic equity partners, including foreign investors.
He further noted that the national carrier, when operational, will create about 70,000 jobs for Nigerians.
The minister who said the Council gave approvals for the new national carrier, said the national carrier, when operational, will create about 70,000 jobs for Nigerians.
Sirika recalled that over 400,000 Nigerians participated in choosing the name which was launched in 2018.
Sirika added that with a 51 per cent share, Nigerians will own the majority while 49% will be held by strategic equity partners that will be sourced during the procurement phase.
He explained that the Federal Executive Council approved the new national carrier, adding that the new carrier in a few years after it goes operational, would generate about 70,000 jobs which he said is higher than the total federal civil servants in the country.
He continued, “This airline if started, and within the first few years will generate about 70,000 jobs. These 70,000 jobs are higher than the total number of civil servants that we have in the country. Its importance had been well discussed so; I’ll not go back to it. You had discussed it separately also on various fora as to the need for it.
“But one important item is the AU agenda 2063, which speaks to the integration of Africa, which speaks to the cause and trade within Africa that is intra-Africa and to which also another flagship project of AU agenda 2063 called the Single African Air Transport Market.
