NEWS
Nigeria Air MD Breaks Silence On Controversial Aircraft
The jet that landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on May 26, 2023 was a chartered one from Ethiopia, according to Nigeria Air’s managing director Dayo Olumide.
On Monday, Olumide revealed this in response to inquiries from senators, noting that the airline had just been created and that obtaining an operating license for it was his personal responsibility.
Olumide said, “It is a pleasure to be here and to finally make our position known where I can clarify all the misconceptions regarding Nigeria Air as it pertains to the technical aspects of it.
“As you know this airline was launched with the logo in 2018. Several things have transpired since then that have nothing to do with me.
“I was invited last February, my mandate is to secure an air operating certificate for the airline not necessarily to operate the airline but to secure a licence to fly. And that is entirely my responsibility.”
The Chairman of the Committee on Aviation, Senator Olujimi expressed displeasure of the committee when she said that the entire arrangement of the Nigeria Air was shrouded in suspicion.
In responding to Olujimi’s question, Olumide said the aircraft that flew into the country that day did not need a licence, so it was hired.
He said, “I will like to address your question first before I go on. The aircraft that came in and left was a legitimate charter flight. Anyone of us here if we have a destination wedding in Senegal, we can charter an aircraft.
“You don’t need to have a licence to do that, you just charter an aircraft, an aircraft you paid for it, it will be brought here, take your passengers and off you go.
“And that is what we did. But in this case, it was to unveil. Ever since 2018, all you have ever seen about Nigeria Aircraft were pictures, and drawings, not the real aircraft, and we thought it was time to show what the real aircraft will look like and also to let shareholders know.
“You see we have institutional investors, they are not in aviation, but they are putting their money for 10 or 15 years and to exit may be at the premium. So they need to see what the actual aircraft will look like.
“So we brought it in here to show them what the aircraft will look like. Then the social media dimension came into it.
“It is an Ethiopian-registered one. Why is it Ethiopian-registered? To operate aircraft in Nigeria, they must be Nigerian registered; on 5th November. That aircraft was not on 5th November registered because it was a chartered flight and it came in with just a few day’s clearance and off it went.
“For us to get that licence which is my mandate, we must among other things have three aircraft before the NCAA will give us a licence and those three aircraft must be Nigerian-registered aircraft.”
“For us to get that licence which is my mandate, we must among other things have three aircraft before the NCAA will give us a licence and those three aircraft must be Nigerian-registered aircraft.”
“There are five steps that one goes through to have a licence. We have gone from the first one to the second one but the problem is that when you change what we call post holders.
“Post holder is a technical term for director of maintenance, chief pilot, when you change them and replace them completely, you have to go back to phase one to interview them to be compliant to the authority, to the civil authority. But haven gone back to phase one doesn’t mean you have done anything thing wrong. That is a correct and normal process.
“So when this aircraft came on a chartered flight, everybody said we have launched Nigeria Air.
“There are learned people in the aviation industry who could have countered that when social media came out, they chose not to.”
The Director General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. Charles Odii, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, other regulators, experts, stakeholders from the financial services and ICT sectors, small business owners among others have confirmed their attendance at the SUPERNEWS Nigeria SMEs Forum 2024 scheduled for Thursday, June 13th 2024 at Radisson Hotel, GRA Ikeja, Lagos.
The conference with the theme, ‘Bringing SMEs into the Financial Services Network via Fintech’ would be declared open by the SMEDAN DG, Mr. Charles Odii, while the EVC of NCC will chair the event.
A renowned economist and financial expert, Dr. Biodun Adedipe, the MD/CEO Biodun Adedipe & Associate Ltd., will deliver the keynote speech at the conference, which would dig into issues faced by SMEs in running their day-to-day businesses in Nigeria.
The conference will also feature a panel session which would be handled by erudite scholars, including the Chairman, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Yeye Modupe Dada; Managing Director/CEO, Sunu Assurances Plc, Mr. Sam Ogbodu, Managing Director/CEO of APT Securities and Funds Limited, Mr. Kasimu Garba Kurfi and Head, Financial Institutions Ratings at Agusto & Co., Mr. Ayokunle Olubunmi.
The Special Guests of Honour for the conference include the Director General of SMEDAN, Mr. Charles Odii; Acting Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr. Emomotimi Agama and the Commissioner for Insurance/CEO, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Olusegun Ayo Omosehin.
The Publisher of SUPERNEWS Nigeria, Ngozi Onyeakusi in a statement in Lagos said the choice of the theme of the Conference was borne out of the quest to improve the business climate for SMEs in Nigeria by leveraging on technology in terms of accessing financial services.
She said it’s unfortunate that SMEs that form the bedrock of every economy are plagued by a lot of challenges, especially inadequate access to finance. Indeed, reports have shown that the challenge of SMEs in accessing funds could be traced to inadequate access to financial institutions and education, skills, experience of owners/managers, high interest rates, gender discrimination, among others.
It therefore becomes imperative to leverage on technology to ensure their sustainability, productivity and profitability.
The conference, she said, will, among others, examine the key challenges faced by SMEs in Nigeria and provide practical solutions to help overcome them.
It will equally explore the benefits of fintech for small businesses, including how it can help them overcome financial challenges and drive growth through technology-driven solutions.
She equally emphasised that the confab is a learning opportunity designed to enhance awareness, deepen understanding of the participants on how SMEs can grow and sustain their businesses by embracing various financial services options including banking, capital market, pension and insurance.
The Osun State Government has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Inspector General of Police and other stakeholders in Nigeria to urgently summon a former PDP stalwart in Osun State, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun for questioning over his recent incendiary comments on the person and personality of the Governor of Osun State, Senator Dr Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke and the entire Adeleke family of Ede, Osun State.
This was contained in a statement issued in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Oluomo Kolapo Alimi.
According to the statement, the Government viewed with gross concern and outright dismay, the careless and unguarded utterances made by Alh. Shuaib Oyedokun wherein he advised Gov Adeleke not to, by any means, contest for a second term governorship in Osun State, if he doesn’t want an act of murder to be carried out and be hanged on the Governor and the highly respected Adeleke family of Ede where the Governor hails from.
The statement noted that during a live Yoruba radio programme on Rave F.M, Osogbo, tagged *Oro Oselu*, on Monday, the 20th of May, 2024, Alhaji.Oyedokun threw cautions to the wind in many of his politically uncultured and morally unguarded remarks while on the programme.
The OSG viewed such comments as not only inciting but the highest form of desperation from Alh Oyedokun and the entire Osun APC to which he defected to recently.
Against the backdrop of further interpreting his utterances throughout the duration of the Yoruba programme as a dangerous security development in Osun State, for which Alimi in the statement called for an immediate summon and eventual questioning of Oyedokun, by the law enforcement agencies to explain why the right of Gov Adeleke to contest for a second term should warrant shedding of innocent blood and hanging it on the neck of the governor and his family.
The security agencies need to unravel what plots or scheming bordering on criminality Pa Oyedokun is privy to or hatching alone or in partnership with his new party. This is necessary to forestall maturing of a hideous agenda capable of plunging Osun into crisis ahead of 2026 polls, the statement further reiterated.
The statement reads in part as follows: “As a Government, we view Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun’s utterances throughout the duration of the
*Oro Oselu* radio programme of Monday, 20th of May,2024 as totally incongruous, callous, dirty, unwarranted and nauseating to say the least.
“Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun’s comments,were not just within the boundaries of exercising his fundamental human rights of freedom of speech, they are at best morally awkward, debasing and a threat cum invitation for mayhem.
“Conclusively, as a Government, we are of the view that,whatever happens, bordering on the security of lives and property of the people of Osun State, before, during and after the coming Governorship election or any other election in our dear state, the likes of Oyedokun and APC members should be held accountable.”
Retired police officers under the contributory pension scheme have taken to the streets of Abuja to protest several months of unpaid pensions.
Coming from various state chapters, they voiced their frustration over the hardships they face due to PENCOM’s failure to pay their entitlements.
The retirees are calling on the Federal Government to exempt them from the contributory pension scheme.
In a video shared on social media platform X on Tuesday, the retirees were seen holding placards and chanting, “All we are saying, give us our right.”
See video below:
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