Tuesday, 24 April 2012 11:47 NAN for BusinessDayOnline
An aviation expert and Managing Director, Air Gold Aviation, Mr Ifeanyi Okocha, has urged the Federal Government to urgently establish a national carrier, noting that this would provide employment to 19,500 Nigerians.
Okocha, who explained this to newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2), Lagos on Tuesday, added that a N985 billion loan would be enough to float the airline.
The Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, had earlier said that plans were on to float a new national carrier for the country.
Okocha said that he and his team of aviation professionals had carried out a feasibility study which would soon be submitted to the President.
He suggested that when the carrier was finally established, it should be called `Nigeria Airlines`.
Okocha added that the proposed carrier, when floated, should be managed by professionals and not by civil servants.
He alleged that the civil service structure which the Nigeria Airways Ltd., (NAL) operated was responsible for its liquidation.
``If Nigeria Airways Limited was managed professionally, the national carrier would still be operating till today. But it was run on a civil service structure``, he said.
He claimed that as at the time NAL was liquidated, the national carrier had four large maintenance departments, which should have been converted to Maintenance Overhaul and Repair (MRO) facilities.
``Instead, NAL was closed down, thereby denying the Federal Government the opportunity of generating revenue.
``If NAL had been in existence till date, other domestic and international airlines operating in Nigeria would have been carrying out their maintenance checks from NAL hangars, thereby generating revenue``, he said.
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