Chairman of Nigeria carrier, Arik Air, Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide Johnson, on Wednesday, accused the civil servants in the Ministry of Aviation of being responsible for the myriad of woes the country’s aviation industry has suffered over the years.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to carry out a forensic audit of the ministry to look into the dubious and corrupt practices they perpetuated by putting numerous hurdles before Nigerian carriers who indicated interest in flying into other countries.
Mr. Johnson spoke at a breakfast meeting of the Aviation Round Table (ART) in Lagos, where he also debunked insinuations that Nigeria airline do not have the financial muscles to carry out transatlantic operations into Asia, Europe and America.
The Arik Chairman spoke at a breakfast meeting of the Aviation Round Table (ART) in Lagos, where he also debunked insinuations that Nigeria airline do not have the financial muscles to carry out transatlantic operations into Asia, Europe and America.
According to him, past Ministers in the ministry were ill-advised by officials who rather prefer to gain from the lopsided arrangement they entered into rather than protect Nigeria carriers, affirming that at various times, the airline has been denied entry into countries it applied to fly into, while they grant entry permissions to airlines from countries that refuses same to Nigeria airlines.
He said the airline is no afraid of government setting up a national carrier and also denied allegations that Arik Air owes Nigerian banks any debt. He said the airline has secured $1 billion loan to upgrade its operation, adding that Arik Air has concluded arrangement to acquire 26 new aircraft between now and May 2016.
