“UNFAIR COMPETITION: URGENT NEED TO PROTECT NIGERIA’S INDIGENOUS AIRLINES FROM EXTINCTION DUE TO MULTIPLE DESIGNATIONS AND FREQUENCIES GRANTED FOREIGN AIRLINES IN NIGERIA.” This motion is aimed at strengthening and repositioning indigenous airlines and Air Peace in particular, in line with my determination to revamp Southeast and Nigerian economy.

Through the motion, I got the Senate to note that foreign airlines are now designated to multiple routes within Nigeria. For example, Ethopia Airlines operates in five cities namely; Enugu, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja and Lagos. Turkish Airlines operates in four cities; Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt, and Emirates operates two frequencies daily into Lagos and one to Abuja.

I expressed worry about the fate of the indigenous airlines with the spate of multiple designations given to the foreign airlines. Besides multiple designations, foreign airlines are now being encouraged to do multiple frequencies into the country and within the country, which is not allowed in other countries. For instance, Turkish Airlines has just started Istanbul to Abuja, Abuja to Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt to Abuja,then Abuja to Istanbul. Lufthansa and Air France are also doing the same, thereby running running indigenous airlines out of international routes. For the avoidance of doubt, while Emirates has two frequencies into Lagos and one to Abuja, it has announced plans to introduce a third flight in and out of Lagos to start very soon, making it three flights daily to Lagos.

With extreme gladness i noted that Air Peace being Nigeria, Central Africa and West Africa’s biggest Airline had commenced international flight operations into Sharjah, and Dubai on the 5th of July, 2019. I am however worried that this initiative can be stifled with the unfair advantage given to foreign airlines. Cognizant of the fact that other Nigerian Airlines such as ARIK, Virgin Nigeria, Medview and others, have in the past been run out of local patronage and international routes by this trend of unfair advantages allowed foreign airlines in Nigeria. So, my motion was to forestall a recurrence.

For example, a Lufthansa airplane flying from Lagos to New York cannot fly passengers to Atlanta too. Lufthansa as a foreign airline can only stop travelers in New York and then transfer Atlanta passengers to a local American airline they are partnering with or codesharing to ferry the passengers to Atlanta. By so doing, America is supporting their independent airlines and creating more jobs for its citizens. In the same vein, a foreign airline coming into Nigeria can fly from its base directly to Lagos, but should not stop in Lagos and make a final flight to Kano. It can also fly directly to Kano from its base. Anything done otherwise is an unfair advantage which deprives our indigenous airlines of their rights and discourages local content while stifling our economy and reducing employment opportunities. By partnering with our indigenous airlines they can improve efficiency when these local airlines know that they are partnering with internationally reputed airlines with strict monitoring and penalties.

I believe that our indigenous airlines have the capacity to cover all the domestic routes being operated now by these foreign airlines and will do better if supported by government. I also raised awareness on the fact that the practice in international aviation is for foreign airlines to partner with local airlines to help them distribute their passengers within the domestic routes.

Essentially, my argument was centered on the unrestrained grant of designations and multiple frequencies to foreign airlines that is not only hurting the growth of our indigenous carriers but also a monumental disservice to the economy of Nigeria in several ways. Besides threatening the continuous existence of our indigenous carriers, the capital flight out of Nigeria engendered by this unwholesome practice is monumental and harmful to our economy and concern evey reasonable Nigerian.

There is no doubt that jobs are seriously at risk as a result of this dire situation since it is the indigenous airline that provide massive job opportunities for our people; the number of jobs created by all the foreign airlines put together is not up to what Air Peace alone created in its first year of existence. Air Peace Airline alone has over 3,000 employees and has also created over 8000 ancillary jobs.

I am therefore disturbed that this unwholesome practice is not only threatening the survival and growth of Nigeria’s aviation industry but, to a large extent, harming the economy of the nation. In other words, I am convinced that if this practice is not checked immediately, it would ultimately lead to the collapse of Nigerian indigenous Airlines;

The Senate, totally agreeing with me, approved all my 4 prayers in the motion and they are:

1. To invite the permanent secretary of the ministry of Transport, the Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) and Managing Director of FAAN to explain to the Senate why foreign airlines are allowed to fly multiple routes within Nigeria to mop up passengers; a practice not allowed in other countries;

2. To mandate foreign airlines to provide statistics of Nigerians in their employment and encourage them to employ more Nigerians and to partner with indigenous airlines;

3. To urge the Federal Government to give the indigenous Airlines the necessary support and protection so as to keep them afloat; and

4. Invite the indigenous airline operators to explain to the Senate the challenges they are facing in the aviation industry in Nigeria as well as to point the way forward.


The Recovery of Igbo Economy has started..




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3bSlzOBXss