The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said on Friday that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration launched a nonexistent national carrier and hence does not deserve commendation.
The federal government had, on Wednesday, unveiled the name of Nigeria’s new national carrier, Nigeria Air, as well as the logo at the Farnborough International Airshow in London.
And it was also gathered that the government is expected to invest an initial takeoff capital of between $150 million and $300 million to get the country’s new national carrier up and running.
As a result, the federal government, it was learned, is looking for strategic partners to operate the carrier.
But the PDP is not buying that.
The party called on Nigerians not to be deceived as it claimed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was only interested in wooing voters ahead of the 2019 general election.
Kola Ologbondiyan, the party’s national spokesperson, said it was unfortunate that, having run out of ” fake promises and not having any development project to parade”, Buhari and the APC had now resorted to international kite-flying aimed at hoodwinking unsuspecting Nigerians.
He said in a statement that it was not funny that the government was merely unveiling logos and drawings of an airplane and imaginary routes.
The statement read in part, “Is it not comical that while other nations are unveiling and rolling out real planes, the Buhari administration, in a most hilarious manner, is ‘unveiling’ drawings of an airplane, name, logo and imaginary routes of a nonexistent fleet, as our national carrier, in faraway London?
“What President Muhammadu Buhari and his handlers fail to understand is that Nigerians can see through their fraud and lies.
“Apart from drawings of airplanes, there are no structures to indicate that a new airline, billed to commence operation in December this year, is being set up; there are no offices, no recruitment of personnel and no form of ground activity anywhere in the country.”