The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), says contrary to media reports that the establishment of the national carrier, Nigerian Air followed due process.
TheHintsNews recalls that a few weeks ago, an aircraft bearing the logo of Nigeria Air was sighted at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja.
Few days after the launching of the national carrier, the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation called for the suspension of the establishment of Nigeria Air.
It also called for the prosecution of those involved in the unveiling of the national carrier by the previous administration, describing the exercise as a fraud.
However, while featuring recently on ARISE TV, the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika admitted the chartered Ethiopian Airlines used to unveil the country’s national carrier was chartered.
nevertheless, the agency in a memo to the parliament said that Ethiopian Airline has 49 per cent; MRS Oil and Gas Limited, 15 per cent; SAHCO, 15 per cent; federal government, five per cent while 16 per cent had yet to be allotted.
It said: “The ICRC memo also indicated that the proposal was turned down five times by the Federal Executive Council under the Buhari administration before it was eventually approved the sixth time.
“The national carrier project was initiated by the Ministry of Transportation in 2016 as part of the Aviation Sector Roadmap, which was approved by Mr President (Muhammadu Buhari). The project was structured to be implemented as a public-private partnership initiative, for which the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission’s regulatory guidance was sought.
“The ICRC provided the required guidance for the implementation of the project in line with the requirements of the ICRC Establishment Act 2005 and the National Policy on PPPS. Following the guidance provided, the following milestones were achieved:
“Constitution of project steering committee and a project delivery team to guide the implementation of the project. Appointment of a Transaction Adviser – this was done in compliance with the Bureau of Public Procurement Act.
“Lufthansa Technik was first procured but later changed to Airline Management Group/Traniero after obtaining FEC approval. Development and submission of an Outline Business Case by the Airline Management Group in 2018.
“The structure involved the Federal Government of Nigeria holding five per cent equity, while the remaining 95 per cent is held by private partners (the foreign partner who is required to have undertaken at Ieast 10 years scheduled international operations) will hold a maximum of 49 per cent, while the Nigerian partners hold a minimum of 46 per cent.”
The ICRC maintained that its Certificate of Compliance to the OBC confirmed the viability and credit-worthiness of the project