Arik Air in ''Macabre'' dance over Air Nigeria predicament

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In an interview with Punch Newspapers published on Wednesday, 10th June 2009, I described the de-branding of Virgin Nigeria as “good riddance, for Virgin Nigeria to fork out almost N1billion per-annum from its revenue to keep a brand in a melted environment is simply excruciating. The new Management should take it in its stride and move on. It should continue the cost reduction process, while improving the West Coast and domestic route networking. They should as a matter of necessity shop for a core investor that will inject funds, preferably an international airline.” That was my dream for the carrier. Thereafter, the media was awash a couple of months later, with the news that NICON Group had bought Virgin Nigeria after being renamed Nigeria Eagle. I expressed my reservations in an article titled “Virgin Nigeria and The New Owner” published in Business Travel weekly newsletter on the 10th of May 2010. I said “It is with trepidation that the news got to the industry that NICON group has bought Virgin Nigeria Airways. Considering the calamitous entry of the group some years ago through the liquidated EAS Airlines, In welcoming the group back to the industry, they need to understand the new dynamics as exemplified by Virgin Nigeria, which is the impeccable systems, processes and human capital that needs some air of freedom in order to continue to maintain, sustain and retain the necessary benchmark put in place such as IOASA certification, IATA membership, AFRAA membership seamless electronic ticketing etc, which has made the airline the willing bride of foreign airlines. It is not UHURU for thecarrier except necessary running funds are immediately injected, ownership expanded to reflect the national carrier status of its founders, anything short of this will make us a laughing stock in the virgin empire and beyond”. I was prophesying may be. Air Nigeria’s predicament is a culmination of errors, government did not do enough groundwork before giving the go ahead for the transaction. I was expecting questions to be asked with respect to the liabilities of the liquidated Nicon Airways and how ownership will reflect nationalism. The clearing agencies deliberately put their oversight functions on override thereby sweeping red flag issues under the carpet. NCAA was a bit hasty in grounding the airline when it had issues with staff. India’s Kingfisher Airlines had more problems to contend with yet, the Indian government and regulatory body provided the critical support till this day. The NCAA need to ensure by monitoring closely that board members of airlines are truly able to function independently without undue influence from the owners, which is presently absent in our airspace. The Federal Inland Revenue Service also takes a share of the blame. Virgin Nigeria’s expatriate managers left this country unhindered even though there was a backlog of unpaid taxes. It may have been more effective if they had used the armed men they used to raid Air Nigeria offices at that time, rather than wait for a whistle blower that only remembered he had a whistle when he was arrested for financial malpractises. That Mafioso move was a bad press for the airline and the country at large. The over 800 members of staff and their families are the greatest losers in this cut off my nose to spite my face game. They adopted a strategy of taking on the owner rather than the airline, forgetting that the only authority you can appeal to is the owner, not management or public sympathy. They should have taken a cue from some DANA staff that started blabbing after the crash only to realise their folly and later rally round the management. Also, leading voices in the industry looked the other way, while the AON, a body purportedly set up to defend Nigerian airlines simply cried for DANA and left Air Nigeria to her fate. The owner and his management team are not abreast with the present aero –political manouvering, and the penchant to stay aloof with some semblance of arrogance has brought the airline to its knees. They did not give the requisite air of freedom to sustain the airline rather they kept flagging inherited certifications. It is so disappointing that an airline that was handed to us with the best systems, processes and certification has been reduced to nothing. We are all guilty and should be ashamed of ourselves. I sincerely hope AMCON can step in and look for an international airline to partner or invest in the carrier. Let me reiterate, that an international low cost carrier is going to be based in Ghana, while South African Airways is also planning to set up a low budget carrier in that country. The Chinese have just set up a regional airline in a joint venture with Ghanaian investors, yet the Chinese feel we are only good for loans that will be accompanied by their contractors even with our flamboyant road show. The pains increased with the phenomenal fares introduced by the local carriers at the demise of Air Nigeria, which was spear headed by Arik on the local and west coast routes. The senate committee wishing to benefit and to reap without sowing, quickly recommended Arik as the new national carrier, which literally means government should absolve all liabilities real or imagined while top government officials were at the same time angling and arm twisting the airline to sell shares to them. The unions started the agitation for the archaic national carrier project, suddenly woke up from their slumber with the covert support of the hapless agencies that have tried and failed, using all conventional methods of retrieving debts owed it by Arik, by forcefully taking over the airline’s counter as a last resort in saving the sector from crippling debts. Arik naturally stopped flying and ensured they were begged to return to flying considering it’s over bearing dominance in our airspace.The body language of all participants at the Secretary to the Government of the Federation reconciliation meeting with the exception of the convener shows that all is not well, even with the hurried interview granted by the DG NCAA and the airline’s MD. The airline did not disappoint thereafter, by issuing a list barring certain Nigerians from boarding their aircraft, topping that list is the MD FAAN. The macabre dance is on going, I will not be surprised to see my name on a revised list, all I need is for government to clear Lokoja –Abuja road and I will get a newer car to take me to my destination since NCAA can’t protect us.