Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has once again criticised Ethiopian Airlines’ deal with the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration on the projected national airline, Nigeria Air.
Following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Monday, the minister briefed reporters at the State House and stated that the terms of the agreement were unfair to Nigerian airlines since they would give Ethiopian Airlines a monopoly.
Keyamo stated that President Bola Tinubu has received reports on the matter and will decide whether or not to approve the agreement.
The minister said he “cannot preempt my President”, adding that “All the reports, everything, we have forwarded to Mr President, the issues we met on the ground.”
“But just to say that it would have been irresponsible of me as minister to take over office and close my eyes totally to those concerns.
“So because of that, we suspended it to say, let’s just look at all the issues and recommend. Now we have looked at all the issues and it’s before Mr President. But let me just give you one or two snippets because Nigerians who are quick to judge.
“In the agreement, you are giving tax waivers to Ethiopian Airlines coming into Nigeria, they ask for tax waivers for five years and you granted them to come and compete with your local airlines who are paying those heavy taxes, how? You want to create a monopoly?”
“In the agreement, they also made a proposal that they would appoint everybody, top management, everybody, Ethiopia, in Nigeria and we agreed?” he queried.
