As the Federal High Court in Lagos halted the sale of Nigeria Air to Ethiopian Airlines (ET) on August 6, 2024, fresh revelations have emerged regarding the failure of the national carrier project.
Zemedeneh Negatu, Global Chairman of Fairfax Africa Fund, a key player in the botched Nigeria Air venture, provided insights in an exclusive interview with Saturday Vanguard.
Meanwhile, former Commandant of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd.), strongly criticized the project, raising questions about its structure and intentions.
Negatu, who led the investor group for Nigeria Air, detailed the efforts that went into securing Ethiopian Airlines as the strategic partner.
According to him, Fairfax Africa Fund was instrumental in assembling a consortium of investors to bid for the project, highlighting that ET was selected for its proven track record in Africa.
Negatu explained, “We approached several large global carriers, but ET stood out as the best fit.
We proposed ET as the anchor minority and strategic operational investor, and the airline committed $400 million in guarantees on top of our consortium’s $250 million cash offer.
It was to be one of the largest foreign direct investments in Nigeria, totaling $650 million.”
Despite their extensive efforts, including hiring staff and acquiring aircraft, the project was derailed by a lawsuit filed by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON).
Negatu lamented that the lawsuit, which he described as meritless, claimed the deal was unfair to local airlines.
“Sadly, a meritless lawsuit deprived millions of Nigerians of a world-class airline that would have properly served them,” Negatu said, emphasizing that the lawsuit and subsequent legal delays were the sole reasons for the project’s failure.
Negatu also addressed allegations surrounding the aircraft displayed during the Nigeria Air unveiling.
He clarified, “The aircraft was a static display, a common practice in the airline industry.
We painted a Boeing 737-800 owned by ET with Nigeria Air livery at our own cost for the ceremony.
The claims that it was an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft disguised as Nigeria Air were misleading.”
However, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd.) offered a starkly different perspective. He criticized the decision to allocate 49% of the shares to ET, questioning the national carrier status of Nigeria Air.
“How could they give 49% shares to ET and call it a national carrier? It made no sense. We should have kept a significant share for Nigerian investors and the public,” Ojikutu argued.
Ojikutu also supported the lawsuit by AON, stating that he would have taken similar action.
“If I had the resources, I would have done what AON did. This airline belongs to Nigeria, and we cannot let foreign interests dominate it,” he asserted.
On the issue of partnership, Ojikutu warned against collaborating with airlines like ET that compete with Nigeria on the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) route.
“We should seek partners that do not compete with us on BASA routes. Partnering with ET was a mistake,” he insisted.
