Nigeria No Longer Interested In Airline Partnership — Ethiopian Airlines

The Nigerian government has reportedly lost interest in partnering with Ethiopian Airlines to establish a proposed Nigeria Air project.

According to an Ethiopian report, Mesfin Tasew, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, disclosed this over the weekend.

“The Nigerian government has lost interest in partnering with a foreign airline,” Tasew was quoted as saying in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

West Africa Weekly had exposed fraudulent activities in the execution of the project, perpetrated by the former Aviation Minister Hadi Abubakar Sirika and other officials in the ministry.

Following the publication of the award-winning investigative story by David Hundeyin, President Bola Tinubu-led administration suspended the Nigeria Air project earlier this year, admitting that it was a fraudulent project that was of no benefit to Nigeria.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced the project’s suspension in Abuja at a ministerial briefing marking the first year of the Tinubu administration.

Keyamo noted that the proposed Nigeria Airline was never truly Nigerian but rather an attempt to use a foreign airline to masquerade as a national carrier.

The former Aviation minister is currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over corruption charges.

Meanwhile, Tasew, the GCEO of Ethiopia Airlines, described the project’s termination as a setback that will not discourage the airlines from pursuing other joint ventures.

He said that other sister airlines in different countries, like the Togo-based ASKY, where Ethiopia holds a 40 per cent share, and Malawi Airlines, Ethiopia’s first JV, are doing well. “Zambia Airways—in which Ethiopian Airlines holds a 45 per cent share—is also continuing to develop,” he added.

“We have been approached by several airlines in Africa for support, and we are evaluating them.” 

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Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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