Air Nigeria: ‘We need a national carrier’- Akpabio to FG

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has called on the Nigerian government to ensure the birth of a national carrier.

Akpabio urged the federal government to ensure that Nigeria’s national carrier is revived to alleviate the plights of travellers.

He spoke on the floor of the Senate, following a motion by Borno North Senator, Tahir Monguno, on the need to revive Air Nigeria.

Akpabio also urged the Senate Committee on Legislative Compliance to liaise with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Aviation to ensure that resolutions are reached on the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, BASA, within the next four weeks.

He said: “The additional prayer is that we should revive Air Nigeria; it’s very simple, we don’t have to waste time discussing dead issues, but there is something we must do. Somebody should bring up a motion that would enable Nigeria to revive its own airline.

“We should have Nigerian Airways, a national carrier in this country, carrying the Nigerian flag as it used to be.

“At one time, Nigerian Airways used to have about 40 planes on the ground, so how did we get here?

“Watch December and the confusion; even the private airlines can’t handle it. Common campaigns you can’t even see private jets to hire. So, since it’s a reformative and transformative government, we should be able to urge the federal government to look into that and alleviate the plight of air travellers.”