The minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, has publicly voiced his reservations about the agreement signed by the previous administration with Ethiopian Airlines regarding the proposed national carrier, Nigeria Air.
Keyamo emphasized that the terms of the deal appear to be detrimental to Nigerian airlines and could potentially grant a foreign entity a monopoly in Nigeria’s aviation industry.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Keyamo disclosed that reports on the issue have been submitted, and the next steps for the project will be determined by President Bola Tinubu.
Keyamo highlighted several concerns with the agreement, including the granting of tax waivers to Ethiopian Airlines coming into Nigeria. The minister revealed that the airline had requested tax waivers for five years, a move that raises questions about fair competition within the industry.
“In the agreement, you are giving tax waivers to Ethiopian Airline coming into Nigeria. They asked for tax waivers for five years, and you granted them to come and compete with your local airlines that are paying those heavy taxes. How? Do you want to create a monopoly? That’s why when they tell you that we want to crash prices…it’s a lie. It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul. The only thing that brings down prices in the commercial world is fair competition,” Keyamo asserted.
Another concern raised by Keyamo is the proposal in the contract that would allow Ethiopian investors to appoint employees at all levels within the national carrier. He expressed discontent with the idea of ceding such appointments entirely to Ethiopian nationals.
“In the agreement, they also made a proposal that they will appoint everybody; top management, everybody Ethiopian, in Nigeria, and we agreed. We agreed!” Keyamo lamented.
He acknowledged the various criticisms and concerns raised by Nigerians, including the National Assembly, over the deal. Keyamo stated that all documents and reports on the issue have been forwarded to President Tinubu for consideration.
“I feel the pulse of Nigerians. Even the National Assembly raised concerns over that, and so many stakeholders. It would have been responsible to close my eyes totally to those concerns. So because of that, we suspended it, to say that let’s just look at all the issues and recommend,” Keyamo concluded.
