60% profit was allocated to Ethiopian airlines for Nigeria Air — Keyamo

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has described the controversial Nigeria Air unveiled by the Buhari-led administration as a fraud.

He said the project remains suspended.

He said that the ‘national carrier’ that was supposed to be an indigenous project and one that was supposed to bring hope for Nigerians, was flawed with a lot of secrecy and fraudulent activities.

Keyamo made the declaration on Nigeria Air while fielding questions from journalists during the second day of the Ministerial Sectorial update on Monday, May 27, in Abuja.

He said, “It was never Air Nigeria. It was Ethiopian trying to flag our flag and not Air Nigeria. That is the truth; it was not Nigeria.

“It only printed Air Nigeria. It was an Ethiopian airline trying to fly our flag. If it is so, why not allow our local people to fly our flag? Why bring a foreigner to fly our flag?

“So nobody should deceive you that it is Air Nigeria. Air Nigeria must be indigenous, wholly Nigeria or must be for the full benefit of Nigerians. Not that 60 percent of the profit is given to another country.

“How does that benefit us? It remains suspended. It remains so,” he said.

Speaking further on some of the steps taken so far to boost economic development in the aviation sector, Keyamo highlighted the commencement of cargo flights. He noted that it will enable Nigeria to tap into the $6 trillion global cargo market.

“We have agreed that we’re going to resume cargo flights between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

“This has been suspended for a long time but now cargo flights are back. Guess what? Air cargo trade accounts for 35 percent of the world trade deficit.”