***N500m Will be saved annually

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has indicated that his ministry is going ahead with the relocation of the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos.

“There is no going back. The directive has been given,” the minister said matter-of-factly on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday.

Senator Ali Ndume from Borno South as well as chieftains of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Elders Forum ( NEF) and other northern groups had moved against the plan by FAAN and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), linking to a marginalise the north agenda

However, in line with current economic and operational realities, Keyamo said the movement of the headquarters of the airport authority to Lagos has become necessary.

Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the movement of the FAAN headquarters would save the government and the people of Nigeria half a billion naira wasted on air tickets by officials of the Authority who have to commute from Lagos to Abuja and back.

The minister said top FAAN officials and aviation unions approached him that the head office of the authority be moved to Lagos for operational efficiency.

On whether President Bola Tinubu was aware of the decision or not, he said, “I take the decision; it’s a decision under the purview of a minister”.

He said only the headquarters of one of the seven aviation agencies in the country is being moved from Abuja to Lagos.

Keyamo said when his predecessor, Hadi Sirika, moved the headquarters of all aviation agencies from Lagos to Abuja in 2020, no adequate provision was made for the principal officers like the directors and the departments under them.

He clarified that the headquarters is where the decision-makers meet, not where the largest number of workers are and not where the biggest building is.

He said over 100 of the 132 workers at the head office are in Lagos while only the directors are in Abuja — without their support staffers.

Keyamo said the whole issue was compounded with the fact that FAAN is not yet digitalised and so, in one year, they spend half a billion naira on flight ticket between Lagos and Abuja alone.

“You see them flying every day to-and-fro Abuja to get one file signed. They fly everyday back and forth. In one year, they spent close to half a billion naira on flight tickets. N450m on flight tickets alone,” he said.

The Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, has disclosed that starting from January 2024 regulators of the aviation sector will begin to compel airlines to compensate passengers for delayed or cancelled flights

The Minister spoke on Tuesday when he appeared before the Joint National Assembly Committee on Aviation to defend his ministry’s budget for 2024 fiscal year.
Keyamo also assured that a list of airlines that delayed or cancelled flights will be published in the media on a weekly basis as part of the compensation scheme .

“I have called the customer’s satisfactory commission regarding the treatment of Nigerians. In fact, I have gone back to the committee, that is how much concerned I am.

Explaining further the minister said henceforth the list of airlines who record canceled flights, delayed flights or failed to fly as at when due will be published along with how many hours of delay on a weekly bases.

The aviation minister also proposed for discounts to be deducted from the flight tickets of airlines that delayed passengers as part of the compensation.
“For every delay, there is a report, an actual report by the regulator, what did they do? Did they pay compensation? And if they didn’t pay compensation we have said that the other way to get compensation if they can return cash is that once the passenger is buying the next ticket it must be given on a rebate.
“That passenger must be given a 50 percent rebate or 40 percent rebate because they must be a rebate”.

On the issue of Concession of Airports Keyamo said the best option to develop Nigerian airports is through concessions to investors.
“Private Partnership must come to the fore. It is not even negotiable, we don’t have the funds to do so.
“In concessioning, we will give the people what we want, not what they want. We have to decide what we want. It is the nature, the quality of the concession that all of us will agree on.

“We want to go ahead but I want everyone of us to sit down, look for the best hands, we should go to the end of this world to look for the best and the best thing for Nigeria and raise our offer to tier one, not tier two. Tier one investors to come to Nigeria and build our gateway for us”.

At last, Nigeria Air flight has touched down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja but not without misgivings from Aviation stakeholders

The flight which took off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, finally journeyed through to Nigeria’s capital city on Friday, Three days away from the change of batton between outgoing President Buhari and the incoming Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The debut of the Nigeria Air may have fufilled the promise that the national carrier would fly before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
However, A report in the Guardian indicated that, contrary to court orders, the minister, Hadi Sirika, had said that the aircraft would be unveiled in Nigerian colours in fulfillment of all promises the Buhari-led administration made in the aviation sector.

But the AON has described the new twist as a last-minute disobedience of court order, attempt to muddle the water through a phantom project, and an effort to “rubbish” the Buhari-led administration.

Solicitor to the AON, Abubakar Nuhu Ahmad, of the Nureini Jimoh (SAN) Chambers, in a memo to the Attorney General of the Federation, yesterday, drew attention to the pending suit number: FHC/L/CS/2159/2022, challenging the “shady deals, deliberate infraction of the Nigerian laws and self-enrichment/corruption,” against the Federal Ministry of Aviation on the Nigeria Air project.

Ahmad said that in the said suit, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos headed by Justice A.L Allagoa, granted three separate orders of injunctions, restraining the defendant from taking of any step about the Nigeria Air project.

He noted that while the administration would hand over on Monday, May 29, 2023, “the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, is planning to circumvent the Court Orders on Friday, May 26, 2023, being the last working day of this administration, and possibly to cover up the various infractions of Nigerian laws, amongst others.

“The minister is planning to hurriedly bring in two aircraft and pretend that Nigeria Air has commenced operation. Aside from moral justification for commercial operation after the last day in office, it is a clever way to violate the court orders.” Ahmad stated.
He added that the action had no regard to whether or not it will stain the record of this administration, “whether or not it will cover for corrupt actions raised in the suit and deliberately meant to violate Court Orders for self-serving purposes.”

“We, therefore, employ your excellency to stop this action of the Minister of Aviation, ensure compliance with the terms of the order and avoid needless controversies on the action after your tenure has expired.

“Notwithstanding, our client will still pursue contempt action against the Minister personally whether or not he left office, for the promotion of the rule of law, protection of the integrity of the court, and in line with international best practices,” the memo stated in part.
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, in November 2022, ordered all parties involved in the proposed national carrier to maintain the status quo, effectively truncating the December take-off date as pledged by the minister.

The court gave the order upon receiving the application of the AON, urging the court to stop the national carrier deal and withdraw the Air Transport Licence (ATL) already issued to Nigeria Air by the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Operators, like Air Peace, United Nigeria, Azman, and Top Brass, claimed that the firm that served as Transaction Adviser for the transaction was incorporated in March, last year, and alleged that the company was linked to the aviation minister. The local airlines further alleged that the ATL issued to Nigerian Air did not pass through normal security clearance.

A stakeholder, who did not want to be mentioned, regretted that after seven years and billions wasted on the project, the minister is still bent on creating landmines for the next administration.

He described the national carrier project as one of the most wasteful ventures ever undertaken in Nigeria’s aviation history.
He said: “Can the Civil Aviation Authority confirm which AOC Nigeria Air is using? Has an AOC been issued and when was it issued?

“In all honesty, is this airline founded on a solid foundation to meet the aspirations and dreams of Nigerians? Or is it just a feat to cover the wasteful and shambolic project of Hadi Sirika? It has every inclination of a faulty foundation, and that is where the problem is for the next administration. An airline business is not a venture you hatchet under the table and expect to fly. No! A minister should know this. That we are having this conversation itself is a shame,” he said.

Apparently reacting to a report that Buhari has failed to deliver Nigeria Air as promised, Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation, had insisted that Nigeria Air would fly before the tenure of Buhari winds down

Speaking in a Channels Television interview, Sirika had said, “On the question of Nigeria Air, on Friday in two days, Nigeria Air plane will land in Nigeria as part of the processes to commence operation. We will on that day unveil this aircraft, the livery and everything in Nigeria’s colours, belong to Nigeria Air and we will proceed to go and do the retrofit and bring back those airplanes.”