A federal high court in Lagos on Tuesday issued an order of interim injunction restraining the Nigerian government from proceeding with the establishment of the proposed national carrier.
The order is based on a suit by eight local airlines including Air Peace, demanding among other things that the Ethiopian Airline had no competence to bid for shares in Nigeria Air.
The Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, who led the opposition said it would be best if Nigeria Air was wholly owned by Nigerian and that local airlines would have liked to be included in the process that brought Ethiopian Airline on board. The domestic airlines accused the federal government of not been transparent with the process.
Responding the Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, denied the allegations that federal government was not open and transparent with the process adding that at every stage of the process, the federal government provided information to all stakeholders to every interested person.
The court order which is subject to appeal has set Nigeria back in its effort to relaunch its national carrier after the collapse of Nigeria Airways.
In 2018, Nigeria announced that a new national carrier was underway. The new national carrier which was announced with so much funfair and was expected to commence flight operations toward the end of the year.
The new national carrier, unlike the previous which was almost hundred percent locally owned by Nigerians. Ethiopian Airline had forty-nine per cent, other personal or group owe forty-six per cent, while the other five per cent is owed by the federal government.