Quote:
"Richard Branson the chairman of Virgin Atlantic alluded to a number of issue bordering on doing business in Nigeria :

"...we have virgin's ill-fated footsteps by setting up a new airline in Africa in conjunction with Nigerian government...the details of the doomed attempts to crack the Nigerian market in the 2000s is better imagined...we put ...together a very good airline-the first airline in West Africa that was ever IOSA/IATA operational safety audit accredited but unfortunately it got tied down to the politics of the country...we led the airlines for 11 years...we fought daily battle against government agents who wanted to daily make fortune from us, politicians who saw the government 49% as a meal to seek for all kinds of favour...watchdogs(regulatory body) that didn't know what to do and persistently asking for bribes at any point...Nigeria people are generally nice but the politicians are very insane...that may be irony because the people make up the politicians...but those politicians are selfish...we did make N3billion for the federal government of Nigeria during the joint venture...realising that the government didn't bring nothing to the table/partnership except dubious debts by the previous carrier, Nigeria Airways...The joint venture should have been the biggest African carrier by now if the partnership was allowed to grow, but the politicians KILLED it...Nigeria is a country we SHALL NEVER consider to doing business again..''.

Beaurriful! Naija has done it again...

BTW, Poster, any source to the article?

I can't wait for the reports on how Richard Branson is really a racist, the devil-incarnate, hated Nigerians, wanted to rob Nigerians blind . . . etc.

What a shame! Nigeria will never be great until at least 300-500 of her most corrupt politicians are executed within 2 days of a Military Coup happening. If y'all think u can do it through the "Ballot Box" or through this sham of a democracy, remember that your votes didn't count in the first place, so snap out of that dream.

Peace.

But I really need a link to this story.

I'm waiting for CyberG to come and pin this one on GEJ's administration

slogozer:
Quote:
"Richard Branson the chairman of Virgin Atlantic alluded to a number of issue bordering on doing business in Nigeria :

"...we have virgin's ill-fated footsteps by setting up a new airline in Africa in conjunction with Nigerian government...the details of the doomed attempts to crack the Nigerian market in the 2000s is better imagined...we put ...together a very good airline-the first airline in West Africa that was ever IOSA/IATA operational safety audit accredited but unfortunately it got tied down to the politics of the country...we led the airlines for 11 years...we fought daily battle against government agents who wanted to daily make fortune from us, politicians who saw the government 49% as a meal to seek for all kinds of favour...watchdogs(regulatory body) that didn't know what to do and persistently asking for bribes at any point...Nigeria people are generally nice but the politicians are very insane...that may be irony because the people make up the politicians...but those politicians are selfish...we did make N3billion for the federal government of Nigeria during the joint venture...realising that the government didn't bring nothing to the table/partnership except dubious debts by the previous carrier, Nigeria Airways...The joint venture should have been the biggest African carrier by now if the partnership was allowed to grow, but the politicians KILLED it...Nigeria is a country we SHALL NEVER consider to doing business again..''.

This is not from Richard Branson. Poorly written! Move on.

Mr Branson may have had issues with doing business in Nigeria but he is certainly too-polished to make such wild allegations publicly. What he is alleging must have been well known to him before he decided to come to Nigeria in the first place. All he needed to get over the said bottlenecks are Nigerian partners who know the terrain very well. Better luck nest time.