The Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Uba Sani, has declared that the 9th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not happy that certain agencies of government are working at cross-purposes.
Senator Sani, who spoke at the Zuma Rock Resort in Niger State, according to an issued press statement, said the development was not in the overall interest of the Nigerian economy.
The lawmaker said that the Upper Chamber was particularly not happy with the Aviation Ministry, which he accused of frustrating the efforts of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, (AMCON), a government debt-resolution agency that has scaled all hurdles required by law to set up a new airline, tagged: NG Eagle, but are being denied the final Air Operating Certificate to enable the new airline to commence scheduled operations.
AMCON, in an issued statement by its Head of Public Communications, Jude Nwauzor, recalled that AMCON’s intervention in Arik Air Limited (“Arik”) in February of 2017 was supported by the Ministry of Aviation to prevent the imminent collapse of another Nigerian airline, especially one that controlled over 60% of the domestic Air transportation in the country among other public concerns.
The intervention was necessary at that time for the continued existence of the airline. AMCON said it was setting up NG Eagle as an exit strategy from its aviation portfolio. The concerned airlines owed over N300billion, and all funds injected into the airlines pre, and post receivership have not yielded any positive repayment result.
AMCON, therefore, opted for a strategic exit from its aviation portfolio through NG Eagle, creating an unencumbered and brand-new airline that would be easier to dispose of profitably.
In his welcome address, the AMCON Boss explained that “AMCON getting involved in the airline is not from a recovery perspective, but from a national duty perspective to ensure that the airline continues to operate given its strategic importance in the aviation sector at that time”.
The AMCON MD added, “NG Eagle is not a national carrier. We have no business with that. We are only concerned with recovering our money; but first, we were told that NG Eagle sounds too much like a national carrier. We reminded them that they had issued a license to United Nigeria Airlines, and somehow that one does not sound like a national carrier to them”.
