Former Vice Chairman of Arik Air, Senator Anietie Okon, has applauded the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) for its timely intervention in Arik Air, noting that its take over had stalled plans to sell it off.
Okon also decried the continuous dominance of Nigeria’s airspace by foreign airlines saying at present no Nigerian airline is benefiting properly from the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) signed with other countries. He said rather the government had given away all the routes to foreign airlines with no reciprocity by any local carrier and to the detriment of the economy.
Okon linked Arik Air’s financial distress to the crash of the economy that forced the nation into recession as well as the depreciation of the naira, which he said made it extremely difficult to obtain foreign exchange to run the airline and carry out aircraft maintenance.
He said had AMCON not stepped in, some interest groups would have schemed their way through to buy off the airline at a very ridiculous price. He said it was important for the government to realise the dire economic and social consequences of it not taking deliberate stance or policies to support the local airline industry as evident in the hundreds of jobs that have so far been lost with the collapse of some local carriers and the continuous weakening of the value of the naira.
He explained that while a local airline like Arik plying international route was selling tickets for international passenger in naira, most foreign airlines instead will continue to demand for dollars and are even selling tickets in dollars thus hurting the economy. In the same vein, he said while a local airline like Arik had employed about 2, 600 staff to assist run its international routes, most foreign airlines operating out of Nigeria may have at most 10 Nigerians on their staff.
Okon remarked that the Nigerian government “is always too willing to cut deals with foreign airlines and give our market away and our country is losing so much for the selfish interest of a few.”
However, Okon noted that AMCON management is striving to keep the airline operating, though at very low capacity. He said most of the aircraft due for maintenance could not be taken outside due to funding constraints.