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The Federal Government on Wednesday announced the immediate suspension of its widely publicised national carrier, Nigeria Air.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, made the announcement on his Twitter page after the Federal Executive Council meeting.
His words: “I regret to announce that the Federal Executive Council has taken the tough decision to suspend the National Carrier Project in the interim. All commitments due will be honoured. We thank the public for the support as always.”
The logo and name of the proposed airline was launched with fanfare on July 18, 2018 at the Farnborough Air Show in England.
While no official reason was given for the suspension of the project whose launch reportedly gulped about than N1.2 billion, a report published by Premium Times quotes a source as saying that the suspension was recommended by the Economic Management Team (EMT).
It was gathered that the EMT, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, did not approve of the launch in the first place as it had reportedly stood against the setting up of a national carrier with public funds.
Already, the cancellation has further angered critics and industry experts who had argued against the project. Many of them had warned that the country could not afford to float a national carrier now.
Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, had argued that the process was not completely transparent.
But dismissing criticisms and all concerns raised, the Federal Government, insisted that plans were in top gear to float the airline in December. It even announced the routes the airline will fly, saying that negotiations were going on with Boeing for the supply of aircraft.
Anger is currently boiling over with #WeyOurOneBillion trending on Twitter.
“A whooping sum of ₦1.2Billion tax payers money wasted on the National Carrier Project, the Nigeria Air. Money that should have been invested in Education and Healthcare development. Our party must present a better alternative for Nigerians in 2019. We can’t continue like this.” Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dakwambo tweeted.
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