Proposed national carrier, a waste of resources- Ezekwesili

A former Vice President of World Bank, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has described the plan by the federal government to establish a national carrier, Nigeria Air, using public funds as a waste of resources.

Ezekwesili, who spoke on TV programme monitored by National Daily, said government’s plan to fund the establishment of the airline and later bring in investors to buy into the company would be “putting the cart before the horse.”

Ezekwesili, also a former Minister of Education and co-founder of Bring Back Our Girls, argued that if the government sincerely wanted to have a private sector-driven national carrier, it would have designed it differently.

She noted that money spent on the national airline in terms of opportunity cost would deny government the funds for other priority programmes in education, healthcare and other essential sectors of the economy.

Recall that the Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had explained that the federal government would commit $300 million and $8.8 million to the project, and it is expected that when the airline is established its shares would be sold to investors.

Sirika had also stated that the $8.8 million represents startup capital for offices, etc required for takeoff.

But Ezekwesili faulted this strategy, saying it is a waste of government resources.

She added that if it was designed in a way that significant part of the ownership would be ceded to the private sector, investors would have been made to commit funds in the establishment of the airline, so that government would not have to spend even a penny on the project.

Reacting to the federal government’s strategy, a member of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) who wished to remain anonymous, said that government planned the national carrier in a way that suggested that it has already identified the investors that would buy into the airline.

He expressed doubt that the project would attract foreign investors government expected.

“The truth is that it will be difficult for Nigeria to have a strong core investor for the airline because Nigeria is not known to respect its agreements. Nigeria made an agreement with Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic Airways and it defaulted on that agreement. Anyone you asked to come and invest in Nigeria refers you to that Branson experience,” he added.