The Executive Governor of Gombe State, His Excellency Alhaji Hassan Ibrahim Dankwabo has taken to his twitter handle to lampoon the APC led federal government over the indefinite suspension of the Nigeria Air, which the governor claimed gulped over N1.2 billion naira tax payers money.
The enraged governor said that the whooping sum of ₦1.2Billion tax payers money wasted on the National Carrier Project, the Nigeria Air should have been invested in Education and Healthcare development, noting that the People’s Democratic Party if elected in 2019 present a better alternative to what Nigerians have now as government at the center.
Aviation stakeholders said on Wednesday in Lagos that the suspension of Air Nigeria project, a new national carrier, would enable the Federal Government to plan properly on how to float it to stand the test of time.
This was the position of two aviation experts , Mr. Ikechi Uko, a travel and tourism expert and Mr. Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) who expressed the views in separate interviews.
It followed the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, announcement on Wednesday that the Federal Executive Council had taken the “tough decision to suspend the National Carrier Project in the interim”. Uko, the promoter of the Akwaaba Travel and Tourism Market, said the move by the government was not surprising, especially as the country was approaching the 2019 general elections.
He said :“It is not surprising because the timing was wrong. I think it is a positive thing that we do not ruin a national aspiration. The way it was going will not have yielded the desired results. “For me, it is good news that people can now go back and plan properly. “After the elections, we can now focus on the project with the help of other Nigerian airlines because they have to be carried along.”
On his part, Abioye told media men in Lagos that a good foundation for the new national carrier was not laid, particularly as the ex-workers of the defunct Nigerian Airways were still agitating for their entitlements. “It is a noble thing for Nigeria to have a national carrier. We stand for it and we will continue to advocate for it because the benefits are humongous. “However, we are not surprised about the suspension because we said it loud and clear that the outstanding N45 billion entitlements of ex-Nigerian Airways workers have to be paid,” he said.
Abioye added that members of the aviation unions had already staged a protest before the Acting Finance Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, who had promised to look into the issue and get back to the unions. “It is a welcome development and I think we should go back to the table and do all that is necessary.”
