Guys, you really need to check this out.

http://www.pprune.org/african-aviation/416515-payday-arik-air-36.html

There are unconfirmed reports of mass pilot resignations in Arik. If this is true, they are in hot sh!'t.

odiaero:

@ All, Note that poster is a big liar, i guess he is working with some other small Airlines that want the fall of Arik Air

Please also know that Arik is a good company that employs their pilots base on qualifications, and not what  poster is claiming, and 90% of it fleet are brand new

@ Poster, Arik Air have more Aircraft orders that can be comfirm on Boeing website, and even have order for the world biggest passenger Airline, Airbus 380

I have stayed and chatted with Arikair Pilots and crew in same Hotel in Ikeja lagos for  Six months, and the owner of that Hotel is from Edo State just like CEO of Arik,

All i want to say is this, One day Seun, this people will just put you in serious wahala with all these their fake write ups

^^^^^
Oga, you really need to shut the hell up if you don't have solid evidence to counter the validity of the issues raised in that really gloomy piece.

or better still, visit the link i posted above for some enlightenment.

Please let's learn to argue constructively.

i have personally been on one of their flights to ph and had one of their pilots(captain)(short and stout light skinned man) siting just before me,(economy class) the only preferential treatment he was given was loads of free coffee

In my view, if OP's statement is correct, it shall surely come to light. If you read OP's tale carefully, it seems things would explode soon and become public knowledge. Of cos, this is based on the assumption of correctness.
On the other, if OP is wrong and mischievious, time will also tell cos Arik will continue to flourish which isnt possible if these allegations are true and accurate.
At this stage, i wouldn't criticise anyone cos i dont have any evidence that OP is lieing or any evidence from Arik to the contrary.

fork adict:

@ Odiaero.
it's people like you that stretch one's patience to its very limit on Nairaland. And when someone loses it and start describing your likes with very unpleasant but very true adjectives, the person will be labelled as rude, insulting bla bla bla.

The writer puts up his article with countless allegations against arik air's management. In your bid to counter his claims you put up such sentiment ridden and downright i.diotic posts above. You are either unintell.igent or a close relative of Arik air's chairman. One of these has to be true.

If you want to rebuff the countless claims in a credible and intelligent way, you should tell us how you interviewed a staff of arik air and asked him questions about how they are being owed 3 months salaries, availablility of water dispensers within their office premises, the non-remittance of their pension funds etc etc. There are probably a thousand serious allegations in the article. You should also tell us if he denied them or not.

Mind you i work. But luckily enough for me, my employer pays me my salary and allowances as at when due. So i cant just imagine being owed a month's salary talk more of 3 months salaries. ARE YOU FORKING KIDDING ME? 3 STRAIGHT FORKING MONTHS? How the fork do i pay my bills, cater for my family? Even if all other allegations in the article were false and this one alone is true, then i boldly say that ARIK AIR IS THE MOST FORKED UP COMPANY ON THE FORKING PLANET! i really empathise with the poster. I dont think you are gainfully employed (although i may be wrong) so i dont expect you to fully understand the implications of this single allegation.

Please note that i am not sucker enough to believe that everything the poster says about Arik air is true. hell no i dont. But you coming on here to present such narrow minded, imbecill.ic defence on Arik's behalf is what i find disgusting. You need to develop a mature, intelligent and objective means of viewing issues man.

Don't mind the goat.
All he cares about is that the Arik air CEO is from Edo State (where he hails from) and as such he will defend the man to the death even if he catches his rap'ing his wife.

Instead of taking on the raised points in the OP logically, he is here braying about conspiracies.

texazzpete:

Don't mind the goat.
All he cares about is that the Arik air CEO is from Edo State (where he hails from) and as such he will defend the man to the death even if he catches his rap'ing his wife.

Instead of taking on the raised points in the OP logically, he is here braying about conspiracies.

Do we have role models in this country? All of them seem more like crooks whose days are numbered. This is unsustainable and we will always be taken for granted when all we are concerned about is EATING NOW! No legacy, nothing, just chop, chop!

Arik and Rockson engineering and companies I have doubt for their successes. Rockson have so many uncomplete Government projects yet the chairman mingles with politicians!

We need character revolution, cos things are falling apart!

if uj go to arik in Tigris crescent Maitama you will weep,the ticketing girls are so rude,

Ultrame:

Guys, you really need to check this out.

http://www.pprune.org/african-aviation/416515-payday-arik-air-36.html

There are unconfirmed reports of mass pilot resignations in Arik. If this is true, they are in hot sh!'t.

^^^^^
Oga, you really need to shut the hell up if you don't have solid evidence to counter the validity of the issues raised in that really gloomy piece.

or better still, visit the link i posted above for some enlightenment.

Please let's learn to argue constructively.

Dont be aggressive in replying thread

odiaero:

Zombie, who told you am from Edo State?, you people should just stop lieing about Arik

Excuse me? Who are the you people? and what reason have they to lie about Arik? Guy, please try to talk intelligently. Now i ask you one question, have you got any proof, any proof AT ALL to refute any of the allegations in the article? If you do, then let's have it. Otherwise SHUT THE FORK UP.

@odiaero,

No offence but your location + signature reads like a 419er's CV

@Tezzapete why must you always use strong language when trying to make a point. the aim of your post is lost coz your tendency to shout abuse.

Ark Air is a private company, as far as I am aware it is not quoted so there are are no public shareholders; as far as I am aware there is no government money (openly oh!!) in Arik Air, so if the owners of Arik Air chose to run the airline into the ground with very poor management, I only feel sorry for the employees, the shareholders and owners will lose their investment when the inevitable bankruptcy comes. Where is Bellvew? where is Okada? where is Albaraka? and a plethora of other airlines include foreign airlines like Pan AM, TWA, BCal, Swiss Air, Sabena, hundreds of airlines have gone bust.

who cares if Arik goes bust? I feel for the staff (I have friends who work for Arik including a pilot with over 30 years experience) but another airline will take their place, that's the power of the market.

With a private company like Arik, all government can do is ensure labour laws are not breached and most importantly safety of their passengers and the public is not at risk, as for 'blowing' empty from Abuja to London  - leave the management to make their own mistakes, am sure with all their MBA's they have a good reason

faithin9ja:

@Tezzapete why must you always use strong language when trying to make a point. the aim of your post is lost coz your tendency to shout abuse.

Ark Air is a private company, as far as I am aware it is not quoted so there are are no public shareholders; as far as I am aware there is no government money (openly oh!!) in Arik Air, so if the owners of Arik Air chose to run the airline into the ground with very poor management, [b]I only feel sorry for the employees, the shareholders and owners will lose their investment when the inevitable bankruptcy comes. [/b]Where is Bellvew? where is Okada? where is Albaraka? and a plethora of other airlines include foreign airlines like Pan AM, TWA, BCal, Swiss Air, Sabena, hundreds of airlines have gone bust.

who cares if Arik goes bust? I feel for the staff (I have friends who work for Arik including a pilot with over 30 years experience) but another airline will take their place, that's the power of the market.

With a private company like Arik, all government can do is ensure labour laws are not breached and most importantly safety of their passengers and the public is not at risk, as for 'blowing' empty from Abuja to London  - leave the management to make their own mistakes, am sure with all their MBA's they have a good reason

perhaps if you booked a 7pm flight on arik and eventually took off at 12am , with no apology, no explanation no nothing you would feel differently

perhaps if, while you were booking your ticket, you saw staff abusing each other in front of customers you would feel differently

perhaps if you were on the plane where their checks were so lax that a stowaway died in the wheel well of the plane and was not discovered for over 12 hours, you would feel differently

we have all suffered, missed appointments, etal because of ariks shoddy management

All we need do here is to weigh and consider what has been posted. Anyone & every one is entitled to an opinion.However, Public opinion (even on this forum) can help galvanize better working conditions for Nigerian employees. Lets keep it real!

I dont have any reason to doubt or believe all the allegations the poster mentioned!! One thing though, My big sista went through a really rigorous
recruitment exercise that lasted over four months with them earlier this year for a job opening, specifically, AIR HOSTESS!! She successfully scaled
through all their recruitment process.  The funny thing is, she was invited to their headquarter in lagos to pick up her appointment letter, on getting there the next monday morning, SHE RECEIVED A WEIRD SHOCKER!!!!!!!, SHE WAS INFORMED THE WHOLE EXERCISE HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED AND THAT THEY WILL CONTACT HER WHEN THERE IS A NEW DEVELOPMENT!! C'MON GUYS, DAT'S RLLY UNPROFESSIONAL 4 A COMPANY LIKE ARIK AIR!! I stongly believe there is something rlly goin wrong ova der!! TRUE LIFE STORY GUYS, AS RECENT AS MAY 2011.

Lets return to the EFCC report on Mr Ikhide-Arumemi and Odili.




EFCC INTERIM REPORT ON THE INVESTIGATION OF A CASE OF ALLEGED CONSPIRACY, ABUSE OF OFFICE, FRAUDULENT CONVERSION OF PUBLIC FUNDS, FOREIGN EXCHANGE MALPRACTICE, STEALING AND MONEY LAUNDERING

Over the past several weeks, the Commission received numerous petitions against the Executive Governor of River State, Dr. Peter Odili and some officials of the State.

The following report is prepared below to update you on the context, content, and full ramifications of the investigation against Dr. Peter Odili, Executive Governor of River State, and Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide, a business associate of Dr. Odili.

In line with its statutory mandate, the Commission received and responded to numerous petitions against the Executive Governor of River State, Dr. Peter Odili and some officials of the State in the past several weeks. After careful investigations, major findings were made with severe implications of fraud, conspiracy, conversion of public funds, foreign exchange malpractice, money laundering, stealing and abuse of oath of office.

2.0 Facts of these of Petitions:
The petitioners stated that they carried out a private investigation into government looting of the treasury of Rivers State by Governor Peter Odili and alleged amongst the following:

i. That the sum of =N=24.6billion was used by the government of Rivers State at various times to build gas turbines as part of its Independent Power Programmme yet the people of the State could not enjoy uninterrupted power failure.

ii. That this elaborate electricity project was executed without appropriate legislation by the State House of Assembly in flagrant abuse Constitutional requirements.

iii. Th at the contractor behind the scam is Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, the proprietor of a number of companies prominent among which are: Rockson Engineering Company Limited, Arik Air, etc.

iv. That the Government of Dr. Peter Odili had several financial dealings amounting to about N3.5 billion Naira with Rockson Engineering Company Limited long before the company was incorporated on 16 th May, 2000.

v. That Rockson Engineering Company Limited was involved in a number of fraudulent procurement of Iveco buses and Ferryboats for the State at the instance of the State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili.

vi. That the same Rockson Engineering Company Limited, with its star quality business leverage, curiously has only two directors which are Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, and his wife, Mrs. Mary Ehiomome Arumemi-Ikhide.

ix That various illegal diversions of funds from the various State Government accounts were done by the Governor and officials of the State, sometimes through Rockson Engineering Company Limited.


Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, the Chairman of Arik Air Nigeria Limited among several other companies like Rockson Engineering Ltd, Ojemai Holdings Limited, etc were also invited and volunteered statements. Searches were conducted in the offices of Arik Air Nigeria Ltd. and Rockson Engineering Company Ltd. in Lagos and Port Harcourt respectively. Some documents relating to contracts and foreign exchange transfers were found and retrieved for analyses. Letters have been dispatched to banks to avail the Commission documents and statements of the State and Local Government accounts of Rivers State, of some companies and of individuals. Some banks have forwarded statements and documents, which have been analysed/examined.


Findings
Based on the investigation carried out so far, the following facts were revealed.

i. Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, the Chairman of several companies, is a major contractor to the Government of Rivers State. He was awarded several contracts by the State Government including the Independent Power Programme (IPP), Supply of buses and cars, etc.

ii. Prior to becoming a major contractor to the State Government in 2000, Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide was a shareholder of, and an Executive Director in, Negris Engineering Nigeria Limited. He worked for the company for over eighteen (18) years before leaving the company, as a result of misunderstanding with the other management staff, to form Rockson Engineering Nigeria Limited in 2000.

iii. While he was still with Negris, he provided an interface between Negris and Rivers State Government during which two major contracts were secured for the company. The contracts were the supply and installation of generating sets and transformers worth =N=401,016,101.00. The other contract was the supply, construction and installation of turbine power station worth =N=4,256,076,000.00 in 2000.

iv. The second contract was about 60% completed when Mr. Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide left Negris and suddenly became the consultant to Rivers State on the same contract using his then newly formed company, Rockson Engineering Company Limited. The remaining payment for the Negris contract were routed through his company where the sum of =N=734,764,749.00 is yet to be remitted to Negris.

v. The incorporation of Rockson Engineering in 2000 immediately he left Negris marked the beginning of siphoning huge government funds that run into several billions of naira through gas turbines contract scam.

vi. Rivers State Government diverted the sum of =N=30,031,446,589.70 at various times to account number CA6010914407 at zenith Bank Plc belonging to Rockson Engineering Company Limited just between January 07, 2004 to December 06, 2006.

vii. Investigation also revealed that Rockson Engin eering Company Limited has several bank accounts with Bank PHB Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc and Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc. These banks were involved in the inflated contracts between Rivers State Government and Rockson. The statements of accounts from these banks are being awaited to ascertain the magnitude of the inflows of the State Government funds into these
accounts.

viii. Further investigation disclosed that Dr. Peter Odili curiously approved the remittance of $250,000 to a London-based Swiss Ver Finance, as an arrangement fee for the purchase of two gas turbines transmission towers and accessories.

viv. Mr.Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide has a long-standing relationship with the Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili dating back to middle eighties. He served as an interface between Negris and Rivers State Government. He used one of his companies, Ojemai Investment Ltd to acquire a property at No. 67 Trans Amadi Industrial Layout belonging to UTC Nigeria Plc.for the private hospital called Pamo Clinics and Hospitals Ltd, belonging to Dr. Peter Odili the Governor of Rivers State at a cost of =N=200million.

ix. Investigation revealed that funds were diverted from Rivers State Government Account to Rockson Engineering Limited, where it was transferred installmentally between March 2005 to November 2006 from Bank Account Number 6571020007472 with Union Bank Plc. to the following Companies:

a. Alpha System & Commodity Co. Ltd = N=3, 957,734,700.00
b. Sea Petroleum & Gas Co. Ltd. = N=6,623,940,500.00
c. Peg Magrect Shipping & Trading Ltd. =N=638, 320,000.00
d. Wopat Nig. Ltd. =N= 276,100,000.00
e. Dairy & Live-Stock Ltd. =N=281,000,000.00
f. Arula Investment =N=330, 000,000.00

Total =N= 12,107,105,000.00


It is important to know that investigation has established that all the money was used to purchase foreign exchange which was exported out of the country.


xii. It has also been discovered that a parallel account called account 2, a/c No. 0130215431600 was opened with UBA PLC in the name of Rockson Engineering. From 2001 when the account was opened to 2002, the sum of =N=12,064,988,787.61 was paid into the account from Rivers state Government. Interestingly, Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide denied knowledge of the existent of this account. So far, the sum of =N=12, 059,602,734.20 has been withdrawn from the said account. This is clear evidence of direct looting of the treasury of Rivers state.

xiii, That Government Funds were diverted to the purchase of various vehicles between January 2005 and June 2006 from various car dealers using Government House account number 6010916587 with Zenith Bank as follows:
a. Peugeot Automobile - #424,474,681.75
b. Cosharis Motors - #166,500,000.00
c. Stallion Motors - #230,500,000.00
d. Ningi Motors - # 75,125,000.00
e. Noble Motors - #39,970,062.25
f. Elizade Motors - #135,700,000.00
g. Inej Mic Automobile - #39,875,000.00
h. Kaara Motors Limited - #6,862,500.00
i. Globe Motors Limited - #18,250,000.00
j. Icon Motors Limited - #7,250,000.00
Total = #1,104,008,304.00

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This was unquestionably a ploy used to siphon public funds by the Governor, as no Government House can accommodate vehicles purchased with this a mount of money.

xiv. It was further established that Rockson Engineering Company Limited transferred over $120million through JM/JEM Air and one Thomas Eggar, a lawyer in the UK, to various bank accounts overseas. Over GBP2million and EURO 1million were also transferred overseas in the same manner. These transfers were done between January and November 2006. It is important to note that all the naira denomination of these transfers were direct lodgements originating from Rivers state Government accounts.

xv. It has also been established that Mr Arumemi-Ikhide the business partner of the Rivers State Governor, is the owner of ARIK AIR LIMITED. He used monies received from the Rivers state Government to acquire all the assets and aircrafts of the company estimated to be worth over =N= 25billion.

xvi.The Political and business relationship between Dr. Odili and Mr Arumemi-Ikhide has become more obvious since the former’s declaration to run for the Presidency. Investigation conducted at various hotels such as Transcorp Hilton, le Meridien, Sheraton etc in Abuja revealed that the Odili campaign organization made bookings worth =N=130 million through his campaign management team. The money came directly from the accounts of Arik Air Ltd. The origin of the money is linked directly to Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide for Dr. Odili’s campaign.


CONCLUSION.

From the investigation thus far, it is abundantly clear that the Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, is using Mr. Arumemi-Ikhide and his Rockson Engineering Company Ltd as a front and a crony for the systematic looting of the treasury of the Rivers state Government.

The result of this relationship reveals that over =N= 100billion of Rivers State funds have been diverted by the Governor Dr. Odili using Mr. Arumemi- Ikhide and his related companies.

@Oyb

perhaps if you booked a 7pm flight on arik and eventually took off at 12am , with no apology, no explanation no nothing you would feel differently

perhaps if, while you were booking your ticket, you saw staff abusing each other in front of customers you would feel differently

perhaps if you were on the plane where their checks were so lax that a stowaway died in the wheel well of the plane and was not discovered for over 12 hours, you would feel differently

we have all suffered, missed appointments, etal because of ariks shoddy management

Trust me I know how infuriating our airlines can be; is it just Arik, Aero nko? but is that any reason to insult each other on Nairaland? vote with our feet, spend your money with another airline. Arik will go bust, will I shed a tear? hell no because they brought on themselves; the owners will accuse the banks, they will accuse government, they will accuse suppliers of AI fuel, they will even accuse the staff and public, coz that what our so-called businesses do, accuse everyone of their poor management. At the end of the day they are a private company, if Ekene no good, follow Young, if Young no good, follow Chisco.

Rather than shouting at each other, or blaming government, Nigerian consumers should learn how demand a better service by switching to other suppliers. The speed I moved from Swift to Mobitel is a case in point.

faithin9ja:

Rather than shouting at each other, or blaming government, Nigerian consumers should learn how demand a better service by switching to other suppliers. The speed I moved from Swift to Mobitel is a case in point.

That'll be the day, hehehe.
Nigerians will prefer to be insulted, beaten, stepped on, and trampled on, just to satisfy whatever the immediate need is. All while paying for it.
I have never seen a situation where a Nigerian opted out of anything to prove a point. It's always a case of 'abeg I need to be in PH, make I just endure go my way.' All due to our individual selfish nature.

Very sad!

This sounds like a colonial airline.

@ Odiaero.
it's people like you that stretch one's patience to its very limit on Nairaland. And when someone loses it and start describing your likes with very unpleasant but very true adjectives, the person will be labelled as rude, insulting bla bla bla.

The writer puts up his article with countless allegations against arik air's management. In your bid to counter his claims you put up such sentiment ridden and downright i.diotic posts above. You are either unintell.igent or a close relative of Arik air's chairman. One of these has to be true.

If you want to rebuff the countless claims in a credible and intelligent way, you should tell us how you interviewed a staff of arik air and asked him questions about how they are being owed 3 months salaries, availablility of water dispensers within their office premises, the non-remittance of their pension funds etc etc. There are probably a thousand serious allegations in the article. You should also tell us if he denied them or not.

Mind you i work. But luckily enough for me, my employer pays me my salary and allowances as at when due. So i cant just imagine being owed a month's salary talk more of 3 months salaries. ARE YOU FORKING KIDDING ME? 3 STRAIGHT FORKING MONTHS? How the fork do i pay my bills, cater for my family? Even if all other allegations in the article were false and this one alone is true, then i boldly say that ARIK AIR IS THE MOST FORKED UP COMPANY ON THE FORKING PLANET! i really empathise with the poster. I dont think you are gainfully employed (although i may be wrong) so i dont expect you to fully understand the implications of this single allegation.

Please note that i am not sucker enough to believe that everything the poster says about Arik air is true. hell no i dont. But you coming on here to present such narrow minded, imbecill.ic defence on Arik's behalf is what i find disgusting. You need to develop a mature, intelligent and objective means of viewing issues man.


@ fork_addict: God bless you for the above response. That's all i have to say on the matter.

Ok kids, cool cool temper! I USED to fly Arik until I just couldn't stomach their incompetence anymore. I flew Benin-Lagos and Benin-Abuja and vice versa. Their inefficiency at the Benin airport is something I wouldn't wish on my enemy! System break down, NEPA failure, delayed flights, rude staff, bribery and corruption etc.

My fear is if things can get so bad on ground, it could be replicated up in the air! So now I go by road, just need to start off early!

One thing most people fail to realize, is that as glamorous as the aviation industry/business tends to be, Airlines are one of the most difficult businesses to operate around the world. Its common to see the successful ones only posting marginal profits. There is so much they have to take into consideration. So for an airline in Nigeria-I dont care how many new planes they order-to think they can carry on like this, is at best laughable. Too bad the owner is from my state.

i believe every thing the poster is saying about Arik.My very good friend is presently working with Arik,She has been complaining seriously and i gave her money to be paid at the end of the month in Jan but she ended up paying in March ending,Always pleading with me to have patience that they have not paid them for 2 months.Am just pitying her.She even gave me the website to check on how hey are been paid.THIS IS A SERIOUS MATTER.I WILL NOT FLY ARIK AGAIN OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I work in a company that handles some transactions for Arik and I've heard some stories from their staff especially with regards to the high-handedness of their chairman Arumemi Johnson. That he may come to any of his offices and if he doesn't like your face, gets you fired on the spot, several Arik staff have corroborated that story. Come to think of it, I believe the MD and several Senior Mgt staff are expats so some of the scenarios the original poster alleged may be true. Its very unfortunate that a Nigerian Business owner would be acting in this manner and letting them take root in his organization. Any Arik staff with connections to a Senator or House of Assembly member can let them know for them to take decisive action. Hon Abike Dabiri-Eruwa might have a sympathetic ear to this situation. I don't know if she's still in the house. NLC has been doddering since Oshiomhole left.

A cheap (abeit too structured) article to bring the image of arik to disrepute.

Go and compete fairly from whatever rival airline you work for.

(why isnt this article being written by the so called many sacked staff? ?)

Such an imbecilic reply. Isn't a huge point of this article devoted to the fact that the airline is living on borrowed funds? Did anyone say they bought planes on credit?

Your relentless defense of Arik Air is noted even in the face of the evidence beginning to trickle in. One begins to wonder if you've been compromised in some way.


PS: Seun has no liability for what is posted here. He can take down any content that draws the ire of a concerned party, but that's it.

Don't waste your breathe buddy, just watch how odiaero dissapears into thin air from this thread, after a few posts and when He's grossly out-numbered by those with hard evidences/instances to support the write-up.
He's probably one of those typical nigerian psycophant who will end-up in a political office by licking/kissing b.u.tts and at the end loot his constituency's coffers dry.

Everything the poster wrote is the truth. Every single thing! My brother works with Arik as a flight dispatcher and i have a friend that works there as one the cabin crew. No one has anything to gain by bringing down arik air. As a matter of fact if the airline gets its acts together its will be a source of pride to us all. The way they treat their staff and customers presently is just not it. If anyone think its a lie pls let him/her make an thorough research so as to make an informed decision.