Nigeria Air to commence flight operation before year end – Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that Nigeria Air, the national carrier for the country, project has reached 91 percent completion, and is expected to commence flight operations before the end of this year.
The president gave the assurance at the 3rd Ministerial Performance Review Retreat in Abuja.
According to him, the feat is being boosted with the certification of Lagos and Abuja International Airports by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, while Kano and Port Harcourt Airports are undergoing similar certification processes.
Daily Trust revealed that in November 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved April 2022 as the official date for the commencement of the operations of the much-awaited Nigeria Air.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, disclosed this when he briefed correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting, saying the majority shares of 49 percent of the Nigeria Air project will be owned by strategic equity partners, 46 percent by Nigerians while the federal government will own five percent of the shares.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria Air has gulped N14.6 billion, under five percent government’s equity share.
On the economy, the President restated that the country had witnessed seven consecutive quarters of growth after negative growth rates were recorded in the 2nd and 3rd Quarters of 2020.
”The GDP grew by 3.54% (year-on-year) in real terms in the 2nd Quarter of 2022. This growth rate represents a sustained positive economic performance, especially for the Non-Oil GDP which fell by 4.77 percent in Q2 2022 against Oil GDP which grew by -11.77 percent.
”Most sectors of the economy recorded positive growth which reflects the effective implementation of the economic sustainability measures introduced by this administration,” he said.
On the Communications and Digital Economy Sector, the president noted that giant strides had been made ”through broadband coverage which currently stands at 44.32 percent reinforced by 77.52 percent 4G coverage with the establishment of 36,751 4G base stations nationwide.”
Similarly, the president declared that the power sector had remained a critical priority for the administration.
He added that the implementation of a ‘Willing Buyer-Willing Seller’ policy introduced by the federal government has opened up opportunities for increased delivery of electricity to underserved homes and industries.