Nigeria Air: “Where is our national carrier?” Nigerians ask President Buhari, Aviation Minister

Nigerians on Twitter have attacked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika over what they described as the government’s failure to deliver the much-advertised national carrier, Nigeria Air.

This was confirmed from several tweets shared on Twitter by several Nigerians on Tuesday.

Sirika had promised that the new carrier would take off in April amidst doubt from stakeholders who are not convinced on the sincerity of the Federal Government in following through the normal processes and procedures in establishing the national carrier.

Where is Nigeria Air?

David Odediran tweeted, “Nigeria Air launching postponed until the first Quarter of 2022 or indefinitely as things go in Nigeria!”

Nigeria Air launching postponed until the first Quarter of 2022 or indefinitely as things go in Nigeria! pic.twitter.com/ZZCM4zxfnW

— Pastor David (@davidodediran) May 31, 2022

Babatunde said “Finally, after so much procrastination, Air Nigeria is back in the air (twitter space). Thanks to our ever vibrant Senator, Shehu Sani.

“At least, this is one of the legacies of Buhari especially with millions of naira invested into the white elephant project.”

Adamu Sabaru said, “Thank you Buhari for letting Air Nigeria vanish into the air.”

Thank you Buhari for letting Air Nigeria vanish into the air pic.twitter.com/RMgDgVGQdl

— Sen. Sabaru (@adam_sabaru) May 31, 2022

Ayo Gbadebo said, “The only update I have on Air Nigeria is that, in June 2018, the Nigerian government wasted our time and resources in Bahrain 🇧🇭 to design the logo of a national carrier that will never lift a single soul.”

What you should know

• The national carrier is one of the programmes under the aviation development master plan of the present administration. It has missed several targets and timelines since 2018 when the name and logo were unveiled at an air show in Farnborough, the United Kingdom.
• 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.
• He had said, “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.”