The artist impression of Nigeria Air plane/iafrikan.com
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has assured that the federal government will not interfere in the operations of Nigeria Air.
The nation’s new national carrier is expected to commence services in December, 2018.
Speaking at a lecture held in Kaduna on Thursday, the minister said that Nigerian pilots would, however, constitute the backbone of the operations of the company.
He explained that the airline was unveiled in London for visibility but that investors in the company would decide the running of the airline.
“There will be no management control whatsoever. But I want to warn you that the people who are going to do recruitment ab initio will be a company that is world-class,” he said.
“The ownership is different. It is different because it is private sector-driven.
“Government will own minority share of less than five per cent.
“Nigeria Airways died due to so many reasons, including governance issues and also that of finance.
“Nigeria Airways was owned by the government of Nigeria and over time it lost track and lost funding and someone, therefore, decided to shut it down and it died.”