Nigeria needs new National Carrier ,says ATSSSAN President

By Chuks Okoh
The President of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ATSSSAN Comrade Benjamin Okewu has stressed the need for the establishment of a new national carrier in the country to curb losses in the aviation sector.
Speaking while playing host to executive members of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents LAAC in its Secretariat, Comrade Okewu said Nigeria had lost huge amounts of money through the Bilateral Air Services Agreement BASA, as there were no national carriers that fly major routes out of the country.
Okewu noted that other foreign airlines have taken the advantage of the absence of a national carrier to exploit the country’s aviation sector.
He advised government to discard the idea of forming a national carrier from existing airlines but to come up with a new airline entirely.
“Without our airlines flying into other countries from Nigeria, we are losing a lot of money, there is need for a new national carrier. The government should stop carrying from the existing airlines to form national carrier. A tokumbo is a tokumbo, we need a new airline not from the existing fleets”
Okewu urged the new aviation minister to complete all on going projects started by Princess Stella Oduah adding that there was the no need to abandon terminals.
He noted that assuming past ministers have contributed their quotas through building of terminals, the country would have been building new airports by now and not remodeling.
Earlier in his remark, the chairman of LAAC Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo, thanked ATSSSAN members for their understanding and support during and after their eviction from their base two years ago for alleged security reasons.
Iwelunmo lamented the absence of national carrier in the country of over 170 million people and urged the union to continue the struggle of putting things right in the aviation sector.
The LAAC chairman noted that the aviation sector in Nigeria has continued to dwindle as a result of bad policies adding that policy formulators does not carry stakeholders along in the process of formulating policies.
Iwelumo, while commending the leadership of ATSSSAN urged them to continue with the struggle adding that the industry will be liberated soon noting that the immediate past minister never carried stakeholders along.
According to Iwelunmo, every stake holder must be carried along in order to develop the industry as a result of its dynamic nature adding that the country cannot effort to go back to dark old days.