The promise of the federal government of Nigeria to revitalize the defunct national carrier, Nigerian Air, is coming to fruition.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, told journalists on Friday in Abuja, that the national carrier is close to being launched with Boeing 737-800 that will apply the Lagos-Abuja route.
According to a statement by Sirika, under the Nigerian Air Project, Ethiopian Airlines will hold 49% stake, making it the largest shareholder.
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“On 10th June 2022, the Ministry received on time one closed bid by the Ethiopian Airline Consortium. A few others attempted to submit but unfortunately could not meet the deadline. Since we did not collect the bids, we are not in a position to say who they are.
“The evaluation Team, 11 Experts from ICRC, FMFB&NP, FMA, and the TA met on the 20/21st of July 2022 and again on 1st August 2022.
“The Ethiopian Airline Consortium bid was formally opened in the presence of a representation of Ethiopian Airlines, checking that all envelopes were closed and sealed at that point, 11 am on 20th July, starting with the Technical Bid. The Financial Bid was opened, again under the observation of the Ethiopian representative, on 21st July 2022.
“All 10 forms, as required by the RFP, were evaluated by the team. Unanimously, the assessment team cleared the Technical Bid, which had a total score of 89% out of 100.
“In a further meeting on 1st August 2022, the team assessed the Financial Bid further and graded it with a score of 15% out of 20.
“The Ethiopian Airline Consortium got a combined score (Technical and Financial Bid) of 86.7%,” he said.
In June, the interim management of Nigerian Air received an Air Transport License (ATL) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Sirika had in 2021 disclosed that the Nigerian government will own about the lowest stake in the airline. He said majority shares of 49% of the Nigeria Air project will be owned by strategic equity partners, 46% by Nigerians while the Federal Government will own 5% of the shares.
Sirika said on Friday that the Ethiopian Airline Consortium was the Preferred Bidder.
However, the minister explained that the Nigerian Air project is not yet complete and that more work, which will last till the end of the year, still needs to be done. According to him, the evaluation team will have to execute:
- Due Diligence Phase (completed for all consortium partners on 15 Sep. 2022)
- Contract Negotiation between the Preferred Bidder and FG
- Development of the Full Business Case (FBC)
- Issuance of Compliance Certificate for the FBC by ICRC
- Approval of FBC by FEC.
He said the federal governments’ aim is to finish this PPP process by mid-Nov. 2022.
Buhari had, as part of his campaign promises in 2014, said he would revive Nigeria’s national carrier. But it has taken seven years for that promise to take shape.
The Federal Ministry of Aviation, on Friday, also announced vacancies in the Nigeria Air Limited. Positions announced include B737 Captains, B737 First Officers, B737 Senior Cabin Crew and Cabin Crew and B737 Engineers (B1/B2 preferred).