The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved April 2022 as the official date for the commencement of the operations of much-awaited Nigeria Air. The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, revealed this when he along with Ministers of Transportation, and Finance, Budget and National Planning, Rotimi Amaechi and Zainab Ahmed, respectively, briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting. The minister revealed that the national carrier will be run by a company in which the Nigerian government will hold a 5% stake, Nigerian entrepreneurs holding 46%, while the remaining 49% will be reserved for yet-to-be assigned strategic equity partners, including foreign investors.
He said the Nigeria Air, when operational, would generate over 70,000 jobs, saying “these 70,000 jobs, they are higher than the total number of civil servants that we have in the country.”
According to Sirika, the council also approved N1.49 billion for the provision of Automatic Civil Aviation Regulatory Equipment to be located at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
“Today in Council, Ministry of Aviation presented two memoranda. The first one is approval for the award of contract for the provision of Automated Civil Aviation Regulatory Equipment, including the software support and training, which will be located at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
“In summary, this is the software that will allow all of the activities of civil aviation regulations to be done electronically on one platform, including payments, follow-ups on personnel licenses, medicals, economic regulation of airlines, safety regulations of airlines and all other businesses within the envelope of civil aviation, will be monitored by this single software. So, that has been approved.
