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The leadership of Ethiopian Airlines has opened up on the controversy over the Nigerian Air initiative of the past administration of Former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Speaking to Nigerian journalists in Addis Ababa, Tasew said that Ethiopian Airlines was invited by the Nigerian government to partner in establishing a national carrier, but the airline was initially reluctant. Tasew said that Ethiopian Airlines has not yet decided whether to continue with the process of establishing Nigeria Air, but the Nigerian government has said that it should continue with the groundwork until the court vacates the order and it addresses some concerns.
“The national carrier will be a huge benefit to Nigerians,” Tasew said. “It will provide Nigerians with reliable and affordable air travel options.” “Then the Nigerian government wanted the structure of investors to be Nigerian investing institutions and the Nigerian government wanted only 5 percent shares to ensure that they have presence in the airline and to facilitate the establishment of the airline. We had a lot of discussions, we agreed but we had some differences in some points.
“Nigeria Air was established before us; it is already established by the Nigerian government before we were invited. It has its own leadership, it was doing a lot of things, it had started requesting for the Air Operators’ Certificate , making preparations. So, when we came in, it was a matter of restructuring the ownership of that Nigeria Air. For your information, the logo was already defined by them, it was not by Ethiopian Airlines.