By Lucy Adautin
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has threatened to expose his predecessor, Hadi Sirika’s fraudulent deal with Ethiopian Airlines in the suspended Nigeria Air project.
The minister also dismissed claims that Nigeria lost Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by cancelling the Nigeria Air agreement with Ethiopian Airlines.
Speaking during a webinar hosted by the Renewed Hope team in the UK recently, Keyamo threatened to release details of the deal made by the previous administration with Ethiopian Airlines regarding the creation of Nigeria Air.
Keyamo emphasized that many would be surprised by the contents of the agreement, and he intends to make it public soon for everyone to review.
According to Keyamo, the previous government, under former Minister Sirika, had selected Ethiopian Airlines as the equity partner for Nigeria’s national carrier. However, upon taking office, Keyamo canceled the deal, labeling it detrimental to Nigeria.
Additionally, the Federal High Court in Lagos, in a case filed by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had also annulled the Nigeria Air agreement with Ethiopian Airlines.
Displaying the agreement with Ethiopian Airlines, Keyamo said, “This is the master agreement I have here. You’ll be shocked if you read that document.
“After some time, I’ll make it public. I’m not hiding from it. I don’t need a lawyer to read it for me. 33 years of active practice of law tells me what to say.
“This is the Ethiopian Air agreement here. And you’ll be shocked if you look at this. What it simply says is that a foreign government should come and take over our national carrier.
“That is the long and short of the story, because Ethiopian Air was a single major shareholder in that deal. Ethiopian Air is owned by another government in Africa. It’s the same thing they have done to Togo. Togo is a small country. They have done it with Asky owned by Ethiopian Air. We cannot be Togo. I apologize, whoever I’m talking to but we cannot be Togo.
“We are big, we are ambitious. We cannot give up our entire ecosystem to another entity. Because what would have happened in that case is that the Ethiopian government would now be a complete beneficiary of all our BASA (Bilateral Air Service Agreement) routes”.
More worrisome according to him was the fact the agreement gave Ethiopian Airline a total tax exemption.
Keyamo further explained that Nigeria did not lose any FDI for suspending the Nigeria Air.
“We did not lose any foreign direct investment. The investment, where they were going to bring their excess fleet or they were going to bring their leased planes on wet lease, bring it here to fly our flag as a national carrier.
“That’s all they were going to do. And all the profit goes to Addis Ababa. And then who controls Nigeria Air? CEO, Ethiopian, Finance Officer, Ethiopian; Director of Operation, Ethiopian. All the key positions reserved for foreigners. Is that Nigeria Air? Is that a national carrier? I ask? It’s not”.
It is worth noting that Mesfin Tasew, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, previously remarked that the establishment of a national carrier in Nigeria had been politicized.
He stated that Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest airline, had intended to assist the Nigerian government in creating a profitable national airline. However, the process became mired in politics, as local Nigerian airlines opposed the initiative.
