Expert Backs Govt’s Plan to Establish National Carrier

Secretary of Aviation Round Table (ART), industry think-tank and a former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd) has thrown his weight on the plan of the federal government to establish a national carrier.

Ojikutu said after the demise of the defunct Nigeria Airways, never has the call by Nigerians for a national carrier been given a serious attention by successive government than the desirous of the present government to establish one within the lifespan of its first term.

“However, discerning minds among the stakeholders in the industry and others within the general travelling public would prefer that whatever the nomenclature that would be given to the planned carrier, be it national carrier or flag carrier, the government must not have a controlling ownership. Government therefore, is very much aware of these wide ranges of views from the various interest groups. For most Nigerians, a national carrier is a flag carrier and a flag carrier is a national carrier. The general interest therefore in my view would prefer National Flag Carriers,” Ojikutu said.

He said that what Nigeria needs is a national flag carrier that would operate outside the Nigerian territory that must serve the interest of all Nigerians. Therefore all Nigerians must be stakeholders and shareholders in it, he stressed.

Ojikutu however posited that individual or private airline should not be given the status or designated as national flag carrier by government in so far, if they would operate on the Nigeria Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs), commercial agreements and other treaties which are Nigerians commonwealth.