BREAKING: FG Suspends Planned National Carrier, Nigeria Air

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The Federal Government has suspended the proposed new National Carrier, Nigeria Air.

The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Serika, made the announcement on Wednesday through his Twitter handle.

“I regret to announce that the Federal Executive Council has taken the tough decision to suspend the National Carrier Project in the interim.

“All commitments due will be honoured.

“We thank the public for the support as always”.

I regret to announce that the Federal Executive Council has taken the tough decision to suspend the National Carrier Project in the interim. All commitments due will be honoured. We thank the public for the support as always.🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬

— Hadi Sirika (@hadisirika) September 19, 2018

He, however, gave no reason for the decision.

 The Federal Government’s decision to suspend a new national carrier follows its unveiling two months ago.

During its unveiling on July 18, the minister said the national carrier will be private sector driven and not a “social service”.

According to him, the Federal Government will not own more than 5% (maximum) of the new National Carrier.

Serika explained that the airline will create economic and job opportunities.

“We want to use this new private-sector-led airline to make a statement that, ‘Yes, Nigeria can do it!’ and we also want to promote our cultures and traditions. It will also create economic opportunities and jobs.”

Nigeria Air: You can’t deceive Nigerians, PDP tells Buhari

The Peoples Democratic Party has asked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government to perish the thought of trying to use the ‘unveiling’ of a what it described as a nonexistent national carrier to deceive Nigerians now that election is around the corner, saying that the alleged ruse cannot yield any dividend.

The party said it was unfortunate that, having run out of ” fake promises and not having any development project to parade”, President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress had now resorted to international kite-flying aimed at hoodwinking unsuspecting Nigerians.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement in Abuja on Friday, that it was not funny that the Federal Government was merely unveiling logos and drawings of an airplane and imaginary routes.


He said, “Is it not comical that while other nations are unveiling and rolling out real planes, the Buhari administration, in a most hilarious manner, is ‘unveiling’ drawings of an airplane, name, logo and imaginary routes of a nonexistent fleet, as our national carrier, in faraway London?

“What President Buhari and his handlers fail to understand is that Nigerians can see through their fraud and lies.

“Apart from drawings of airplanes, there are no structures to indicate that a new airline, billed to commence operation in December this year, is being set up; there are no offices, no recruitment of personnel and no form of ground activity anywhere in the country.

Punch