APRIL 09, 2024

Popular CNN International Correspondent, Larry Madowo, has expressed displeasure after he was charged $215 (N268,554) for a one-month single entry visa to Nigeria.

Madowo disclosed this in a video posted on his X handle on arrival in Nigeria.

The 36-year-old, who is the host of the African Voices Changemakers and Playmakers series, described the money he had to pay as too much.

“So I’m back in Lagos actually I was here three weeks ago and one more time I’ve been charged $215 for a one-month single entry visa and here is the thing, the visa cost $25.

“But Nigeria charges you $170 for biometrics every single time. And then for a good measure, another $20 for processing.

“So make it make sense for me: my finger prints have not changed since I was here three weeks ago. Why am I paying another $170 for biometrics? And after that, I’ve been here three different times in 2024 so that’s $645 that Nigeria has made from me.

"It’s too much! It’s plenty money and these visas are giving me problems. I want to come back many more times, but how can we talk about borderless Africa when Africans are getting charged $215 for visas?”

He explained that he had gone to Uganda and South Africa and Ghana on a Kenyan passport but did not need visas to go to the three countries but every time he comes to Nigeria he must part with $215.

APRIL 09, 2024

There’ve been mixed reactions in Nigeria after the federal government unveiled plans to introduce a new multi-purpose national digital ID card, with some describing it as a duplicative effort and a waste of resources.

In a statement issued Friday April 5, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), said the new ID card, whose launch is supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System, will have payments and social service delivery functions, and will facilitate access to other services including travel, health insurance information, microloans, agriculture, food stamps, transport, and energy subsidies, just to mention a few.

The agency added that among other features, the credential, to be powered by a national ID card scheme dubbed AfriGo, will have a machine-readable zone (MRZ) in line with ICAO’s standards for biometric passports, a QR code that will contain the holder’s national identification number (NIN), and the possibility for face and fingerprints biometric authentication as the primary medium for identity verification through the data on the card chip.

One card or three different cards?

After the NIMC announcement, the institution’s Technical Adviser for Media and Communications, Ayodele Babalola, later made a declaration which appeared to be different from the substance of the ID authority’s April 5 statement.

In an interview with Punch, the official said three new cards will be introduced (apparently different from the announced multi-function card), and they’ll comprise a bank-enabled ID, a social protection card and another – the (ENBIC) which will be used within the West African community.

He didn’t not mention when these cards will be launched, saying the decision would be sequel to a clearance by the presidency.

The number of new cards to be introduced notwithstanding, the announcements come as Nigeria is pursing efforts to expand coverage of the NIN – another digital ID – which has so far been issued to nearly 105 million people. The World Bank recently lauded Nigeria’s NIN issuance progress in a report. Different states in the country, including Edo and Lagos also have biometric resident ID cards for different purposes.

Nigerians criticize multiplicity of cards

Across the country’s social media space, there have been strong criticism of the NIMC’s announcement of yet other cards.

“We have NIN and voter’s card. What stops the federal government from integrating whatever technology they have from those? Putting Nigerians through another round of stress is unnecessary. This smells like a well packaged fraud as usual. We are not kids anymore,” Rita Sunshine, an X user commented under the NIMC’s announcement.

Another X user identified as AI Ken asked rhetorical questions: “APC season of national card Vs new card. Are all these for our benefits or for the benefit of contractors? What is the different between NIN, PVC, BVN and this upcoming card?”

In what looks like an anticipated response to these criticisms, the NIMC wrote in its announcement. “The national ID card, layered with verifiable national identity features, is backed by the NIMC Act No 23 of 2007 which mandates NIMC to enroll and issue a General-Purpose card (GMPC) to Nigerians and legal residents.”

“This card will address the demand for physical identification enabling cardholders prove their identity, access government and private sector services, facilitate financial inclusion for disenfranchised Nigerians, empower citizens, as well as encourage increased participation in nation-building.”

According to the NIMC, the card can be requested for online at commercial banks, some dedicated agencies involved in social programmes, or any NIMC office across the country.

“Only registered citizens and legal residents with the National Identification Number will be eligible to request the card. Cardholders will also be able to use the cards as debit or prepaid cards by linking same to bank accounts of their choice. The cards shall enable eligible persons especially those financially excluded from social and financial services have access to multiple government intervention programmes.”

Following the criticisms online, the NIMC has also clarified that the issuance of the new card will not require the collection of additional biographic or biometric information.

APRIL 10, 2024

(Bloomberg) -- Rishi Sunak said the UK will not let foreign courts block his plan to deport migrants to Rwanda, and declared “enough is enough,” suggesting the prime minister is considering the UK’s ongoing membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.

“I won’t let a foreign court block our ability to put people on planes and send them to Rwanda,” Sunak told LBC radio on Wednesday, when asked if the governing Conservatives would contemplate the possibility of leaving the ECHR. “I’ve come at this very reasonably. We’ve worked hard. We’ve got the numbers down. We’ve done everything right. We’ve passed new laws through Parliament, we’ve addressed everyone’s concerns, but at this point enough is enough.”

Sunak was speaking amid speculation he could commit his Conservatives to withdrawing from the ECHR in order to ensure Britain can deport migrants. He refused to be drawn specifically on whether he would put that commitment in his party’s election manifesto. He must hold a national vote by the end of January and repeated his expectation that the country would go to the polls in the second half of this year. 

APRIL 11, 2024

By Damilola Aina

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said the government is constructing the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway at a total cost of N4bn per kilometre and not the N8bn per km reportedly claimed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

This indicates that the total project will be completed at the cost of N2.8trn.

The minister also dismissed claims that the project didn’t follow the due procurement process, stating that the contract was awarded on a counter-funding basis and not on a Public-Private Partnership as widely claimed.

Umahi disclosed this information when he appeared as a guest on the Television Continental News Hour programme on Wednesday in Lagos.

Last week, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general election, Atiku Abubakar, questioned President Bola Tinubu administration’s decision to allegedly award the contract to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech without competitive bidding, daring the president to disclose the full cost of the Lagos-Calabar highway project.

He also wondered why the Tinubu administration released N1.06tn for the pilot phase, or six per cent of the project, which begins at Eko Atlantic and is expected to terminate at the Lekki Deep Sea Port.

But responding in a statement on Tuesday, Umahi explained that despite the soaring costs of materials in the construction industry due to commodity price inflation and supply chain disruptions, the ministry is committed to prudence, promising to reveal the true cost.

However, in the interview, Umahi confirmed that the project would be completed within eight years, stating that with the use of concrete pavement on the four-lane carriageway, the project costs N4bn per km.

He also explained that although N1.06tn was appropriated, the full amount had not been disbursed.

The minister explained, “People are just building castles without knowledge and they don’t know figures, I will run the figures for you. We are going to compare the cross-section of the one the former vice president mentioned that was renegotiated for $11.1bn for 700 km. So you have to now ask what was there to be constructed. And what was there to be constructed is the only available design from NDDC. They had designed the entire 700 km but we are not following exactly that pattern or right of way. We have a different modification. The original design had two carriageways on each side of the road with four lanes.

“And in the middle, they did not provide for the train track. It’s just going to be a water-collecting basin. But the coastal road we are constructing has a total of 10 lanes, you know, not only that it has a total of 10 lanes, it also have what we called shoulders. And the total shoulders can be put at about 23 metres. So when you put the total concrete pavement we are doing, it’s about 59 metres. When you put the total flexible pavement that he quoted it’s about 23 metres.

“And so when you run the figures, you now find out that under his calculation, it is giving you about over N19bn per kilometre. Now if you divide it by the 23 kilometres that they are doing, it is about 2.225 times a standard superhighway carriageway, which is N11.55bn. Whereas what we are doing, if you divide it, you get N5.167bn, So when you now divide using our 1.067, you get about N4bn/km. If you go back to what he has quoted, you will get over N8bn. So using concrete, which should be more expensive because of the kind of terrain we have, and using flexible pavement, which shouldn’t stand the coastal route, you will find out that our cost is N4bn instead of the N8bn claimed by the former vice president.

On the mode of the construction process, the former Ebonyi governor explained that the administration never envisaged the project under a Private Public Partnership arrangement but under an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Finance programme as currently used on the Abuja- Markurdi road project.

He said, “This administration never envisaged the project under Private Public Partnership. It has always been under engineering, procurement, construction and finance. And so under this kind of arrangement, as you have on the Abuja to Makurdi road project, the federal government is required to pay a certain amount for counterpart funding. And so in this particular project of Abuja to Makurdi, which is being handled by China Harbour, the government is paying 50 per cent counterpart funding. Then you have also from Makurdi to 9th Mile in Enugu state, where we are also paying 50 per cent counterpart funding. So, there’s a marked difference between PPP and EPC plus F. And in this particular project, there will be a negotiated counterpart funding of between 15 and 30 per cent

“When I was a governor, I had the African Development Bank fund a project through counterpart funding and I used some of the money to build some sections of the road. So part of what we are constructing under sections one, two and three currently funded by the federal government will fall under the percentage counterpartfunding. When we finalise the negotiation, it will be between 15 per cent and 30 per cent.

But findings by our correspondent showed that the statement is contrary to claims made by the minister on September 23, 2023, when he unveiled the design plan for the project.

Speaking to journalists, the minister also said Hitech Construction would fund the project under the Public-Private Partnership model.

Umahi said, “Let me announce that this project is under PPP. The Hitech group are going to look for the money. They have already found the money and that is the good news because we don’t waste our time talking and holding meetings and wasting resources.”

“We are engaging seriously because we have seen the financial capacity and capability of Hitech and this project is going to be delivered in phases. Any section that we complete, we will toll it and then business and transportation will start.”

Continuing, the works minister said the constructing company was only invited by the ministry based on their pedigree to construct the roads, adding that there was no public bidding process for the project.

“We followed all procurement acts and the act permits the Federal Ministry of Works to invite a company that has specialised skill in a particular work. For instance, we have some problems on the Third Mainland Bridge with some underwater works and whom did we invite? We invited Julius Berger because they have the skill to the exclusive rights of theirs and we submitted a bid for it and we negotiated and awarded the job. Of course, we ran through the Bureau of Public Procurement and of course also to the Federal Executive Council. So it followed due process,” Umahi concluded.

APRIL 11, 2024

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG has suspended services to Tehran amid an escalation in tensions in the Middle East.

The German flag carrier said that the halt began on April 6 and will continue until April 13, according to a spokeswoman. The airline’s Frankfurt-Tehran service requires an overnight layover for crews. 

Austrian Airlines, owned by Lufthansa, flies to Iran from Vienna in same-day return service and is scheduled to operate this evening, according to FlightRadar24.

Tensions in the Middle East are soaring after the US warned that possible missile or drone strikes by Iran or its proxies against Israel were imminent, in retaliation for an attack on a diplomatic compound in the Syrian capital of Damascus last week that killed senior Iranian military officials.

Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines are the only two Western carriers still operating services to Tehran, although the Iranian capital is served by carriers including Qatar Airways, Flydubai, Emirates, Oman Air, Turkish Airlines, Pegasus, Corendon Airlines, and Air Arabia.

The German carrier was the first foreign airline to resume flights to Israel in January after suspending the service in the wake of   of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

APRIL 11, 2024

From Thursday, the price of applying online for a new or renewed adult passport will increase from £82.50 to £88.50 - a 7% rise. It comes after a 9% rise in February last year.

The cost of a UK passport will increase again this week for the second time in 14 months.

From Thursday, the price of applying online for a new or renewed adult passport will increase from £82.50 to £88.50 - a 7% rise.

It comes after a 9% rise in February last year.

Before that increase, passport prices had not increased for five years - an online application for an adult cost £75.50.

The cost of applying for a child's passport online is also going up, from £53.50 to £57.50.

Those applying by post will see the biggest hike, with the price rising from £93 to £100 for an adult passport and from £64 to £69 for a child.

Online and paper applications made from overseas are even more expensive.

In a statement when the price rises were proposed in March, the Home Office said the government does not make any profit from the cost of passport applications.

"The new fees will help ensure that income from these applications better meets the cost of delivering passport and associated operations, reducing reliance on funding from general taxation," it said.

"The fees contribute to the cost of processing passport applications, consular support overseas, including for lost or stolen passports, and the cost of processing British citizens at UK borders.

"The increase will also help enable the government to continue improving its services."

APRIL 12, 2024

BY Danny Lee, Bloomberg News

, Source: Cirium

(Bloomberg) -- Shares of China’s biggest airlines slumped on Friday as investors reacted to news that US carriers are trying to block any increase in flight frequencies between the world’s two biggest economies.

Air China Ltd.’s Hong Kong-traded stock slipped as much as 4.6% while China Southern Airlines Co. fell 2.2%. Shares in Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines Corp. declined as much as 3.5%, worse than the Hang Seng Index’s 1.9% decrease.

The largest US airlines, in a letter sent Thursday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Transport Department Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asked the Biden administration to halt the approval of new flights between the country and China, saying Beijing’s “damaging anti-competitive policies” put US carriers at a disadvantage.

“If the growth of the Chinese aviation market is allowed to continue unchecked and without concern for equality of access in the market, flights will continue to be relinquished to Chinese carriers at the expense of US workers and businesses,” the letter said.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

A request by US airlines to the Biden administration to block further Chinese carriers’ flights does not appear to be grounded in market realities. Current US-China flights are split evenly on both sides at 50 per week and remain just about 25% of 2019 levels. While demand may be lower than pre-pandemic, there is scope to continue restoring seats to the benefit of US and Chinese carriers. Blocking further flights would be reciprocated. Russian overflight is an issue, but some Chinese airlines aren’t engaging in the practice on Beijing-East Coast routes.

- Tim Bacchus and Eric Zhu, BI analysts

Click here for the research.

A spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, told reporters at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday, that “increasing direct flights between China and the US is a common understanding reached by our two presidents in San Francisco. It is conducive to enhancing people-to-people exchange and mutual understanding between the two countries.”

China-US seat capacity remains at about one-quarter of 2019 levels, far lower than China’s air connections to other parts of the world. The number of flights between the two economic superpowers stood at around 340 per week prior to Covid.

China’s aviation regulator in early January said it would push for a “significant increase” in direct flights between China and the US.

In late February, the US Department of Transportation allowed Chinese carriers to increase the number of weekly flights to 50 round-trips between China and the US, up from 35. With an open-skies arrangement, this means US airlines reciprocally get the same number.

Another sign of a thawing in relations was the restart of Boeing Co. 737 Max deliveries after almost five years.

One thorn however is China’s use of Russian airspace, which gives Chinese carriers a distinct advantage in flight time, distance and cost. US airlines have been blocked from flying over Russian airspace since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Several Chinese carriers including Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Hainan Airlines Holding Co. operate direct flights to and from the US, competing against the likes of American Airlines Group Inc., United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc.

--With assistance from Jinshan Hong, Charlotte Yang and Colum Murphy.

(Updates with China response in 5th paragraph.)

China Airlines Slump on US Moves to Limit Flight Frequencies

APRIL 12, 2024

Stories By Chinedu Eze

Nigeria’s major carrier, Air Peace, which started Lagos-London flight service on March 30, 2024, has denied abandoning one of its passengers at its operating airport in London, Gatwick. 

In a statement signed by the airline management, it said it never abandoned any of its passengers at the said airport and repudiated the video it alleged was purportedly made to tarnish the airline’s image. 

“Our attention has been drawn to a video circulating on social media that Air Peace not only abandoned their passengers at Gatwick Airport, but closed their counter before closing time because the aircraft was overbooked on our London-Lagos flight on Monday, April 8, 2024.

“This video recording was a deliberate and malicious attempt to tarnish the image of Air Peace.  In the video, a number of falsehoods were claimed, specifically: firstly, we closed our counter before time. Secondly, we overbooked our flight and our aircraft was full, hence we quickly closed the door and departed for Lagos. Thirdly, take off time was supposed to be 12:00 noon. 

“We want to state categorically that the passenger, who the narrator escorted to the airport, came very late after check-in phase was already concluded and the counter had closed. Gatwick Airport operate by slot timings allocated to each of the airlines operating out of this airport. The check-in operations of airlines are slot-based, and airlines take turns based on their approved times.  Once your slot timing is up, you must vacate the counters for the next airline’s utilisation. The check-in process ends at 09:00am, as advised in the Terms and Conditions section of our e-ticket and website, and the counter was vacated by Air Peace in accordance with our slot allocation at 09:55am. 

“To ensure passengers do not miss their flights, we send them multiple messages at different times before their flight – 24hrs, 14hrs and 6hrs before flight departure. Departure for this flight was scheduled for 11:10am, so all processes needed to adhere to this time,” the airline stated. 

The statement also said: “It was claimed that we overbooked our flight. The UK Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority can attest to the number of passengers on our manifest for the said flight. The aircraft left Gatwick with some seats unoccupied, so no overbooking took place. 

“Gatwick Airport has CCTV coverage showing the time the passenger arrived at the airport/Air Peace counter and the time the maker of this video got to the airport. The late arriving passenger duly paid the no show fee, was booked to travel on a subsequent flight, and therefore the issue was resolved at the airport. It is disappointing that a different version of what transpired has been circulating. 

“Air Peace will continue to do its best to meet the needs of our passengers,” the statement added.

APRIL 12, 2024

BY Chinedu Eze

After months to turmoil and near bankruptcy as a result of the prohibitive cost of aviation fuel, Nigerian airlines are celebrating following the news that Dangote Refinery will start supplying the product to them in the coming days.

The airlines, it was learnt, hope to gain financial momentum with expected reduction in the cost of aviation fuel as a result of the development.

Currently, the price of aviation fuel ranges between N1,450 to N1, 500 per litre in Lagos and higher in Abuja, Port Harcourt, with almost N2000 per litre in Kano and Maiduguri.

Research shows that aviation fuel constitutes about 60 per cent of cost of operation of domestic airlines and has made flight service unprofitable.

Nigerian airlines have been largely unable to pass the high cost of the product to passengers who are already complaining that cost of ticket has become too high, hence the noticeable dwindling of passenger movement at the airports.

Airline operators told THISDAY that if they dare increase fares further, traffic would reduce drastically and airlines would go out of business.

Records from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) showed that more people flew on domestic destination in 2022 than in 2023 and it is projected that if the cost of aviation fuel does not come down, the record of passenger movement this year will be less than the figures of last year.

The CEO of Cleanserve Energy, an oil marketing company and former Managing Director of Arik Air, Mr. Chris Ndulue, told THISDAY that although Dangote Refinery has not started producing aviation fuel, “everyone is expectant that it would soon start and when it does, it is also the expectation of everyone that there will be significant reduction in the price of the product.”

He said the cost of logistics of importing the product would no more be there because it is being produced locally and expressed the hope that Dangote would not sell the product at the international price.

Also, Dangote will sell the product in Naira, not in dollars; thereby reducing the pressure on the naira and eliminating the struggle marketers go through sourcing for dollars to import the product.

He predicted that the distribution of the product from Dangote would still follow the current system where the product is moved to the Apapa from the refinery and distributed from the tank farms there.

THISDAY also learnt that some marketers have made financial commitment for the supply of the product, which indicates that the selling of Aviation fuel through Nigeria’s latest refinery and one of the biggest in the world, has become imminent.

“Dangote has not started producing aviation fuel; however, everybody is expecting that soon it will start. It is expected that the cost will be cheaper as he is producing locally. First, there will be significant reduction in logistics cost, which will reduce the price and Dangote will not sell in dollars but in naira. This means that oil marketers will no more source for dollar for importation of the product. Dangote supply will ease the pressure on the naira; it will also reduce our import and give fillip to the recovery of the naira. When the naira is strengthened and these is an end to importation,” Ndulue said.

According to him, when the refinery fully comes on stream Naira will further appreciate on that account because petroleum product import is huge, which could be about 30 per cent of Nigeria’s total import.

He also admitted that the current price of aviation fuel is very high and that explains why airfares are also high, stopping many who hitherto travelled by air to seek alternative means of transport.

Speaking on behalf of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), the Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, said the association would meet with Dangote and have an agreement with the company on the supply of the product to the airlines without passing through oil marketers, adding that through that process, Nigerian airlines will reap full benefit of the cost of the product.

He also believes that the price of the product when produced locally ought to be cheaper than when it is imported.

“We need to approach the company. There should be cost reduction. Import costs more but we cannot say until we see his price. I believe AON should make a deal with Dangote without passing through vendors and I heard that vendors have deposited money for the product already,” he said.

Importation, some industry observer said, constitutes a huge forex challenge for Nigeria adding that this explained why aviation fuel is very costly.

Numbers released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that Nigeria spent N292.56 billion on the importation of aviation fuel, known as Jet A1 in the first three months of the year – January to March 2022.

An Oil and gas industry publication recently stated that aviation fuel import featured prominently in Nigeria’s trade data for the stated period.

NBS in its Foreign Trade Statistics Report for First Quarter of 2022, said aviation fuel, accounted for 4.96 per cent of Nigeria’s total import of N5.9 trillion, with the commodity ranking the second most imported commodity in the country in the first quarter.

According to the report, aviation fuel import in the first quarter of 2022, represented a significant increase of 287.29 per cent compared to the N75.54 billion spent on its import in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, the NBS disclosed that jet fuel import was the sixth most imported commodity, accounting for 1.27 per cent of the period’s total import figure of N5.94 trillion.

In the first quarter of 2021, there was no mention of jet fuel import in the foreign trade statistics of the NBS, despite the country recording total imports of N6.85 trillion for the period.

The NBS said: “The value of total imports in first quarter 2022 stood at N5.90 trillion, this decreased by 0.67 per cent when compared with the value recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 (N5.94 trillion); but increased by 21.04 per cent compared to the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2021, which is N4.875 trillion.

“In terms of Imports, in the first quarter of 2022, China, The Netherlands, Belgium, India and the United States were the top five countries of origin of imports to Nigeria. The values of imports from the top five countries amounted to N3.44 trillion representing a share of 58.34 per cent of the total value of imports. The commodity groups with the largest values among the top imported products were ‘Motor Spirit ordinary’ – N1.507 trillion’; ‘Kerosene type jet fuel’ – N292.56 billion, and ‘Durum wheat (not in seeds)’ – N258.31 billion.”

APRIL 15, 2024

By Dickson Omobola

The price war ignited by the reduction of airfare of Lagos to London route by Air Peace has raised concerns in the aviation industry over the seeming move by foreign airlines to run the Nigerian carrier out of business.

Already, there are mixed feelings in the industry over the sudden reduction of prices beyond normal rate.

Many believe the development may not have been informed by genuine concern for passengers, but a retaliatory move against Air Peace for earlier crashing the exorbitant prices the airlines charged.

Depending on the airline and time of booking, some mega carriers including British Airways, which charged about N3 million for economy class, now sells the same ticket for less than N2 million.

In recent days also, Royal Air Maroc had dropped its economy ticket to as low as ($456.99) N569,422, just as Virgin Atlantic ($927.99) N1.1 million and Egyptair ($470) N585,620 respectively reduced theirs.

At press time, however, findings by Vanguard showed that Air Peace’s economy ticket was N1.2 million; British Airways’ ($1,348) N1.5 million; Royal Air Maroc’s ($1,299,40) N1.4 million and Virgin Atlantic’s ($1,158) N1.3 million.

Competitive market

Commenting on the development, former acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Mr Benedict Adeyileka, in a chat with Vanguard, said the aviation world was a competitive market.

Adeyileka said: “It is a business and everybody has to sell. Yes, there is politics in it, but it also gives room for price fixing. Frankly, price fixing is a very difficult war to fight. There are reasons the price went up before.

”First, there was demand. And once there is demand, the price goes up. Second, they had no competition. We had no Nigerian airline doing international flights until Air Peace came into the picture.

Internal cooperation

“On its own, Air Peace drove the price down. Nevertheless, let me put this on record. The foreign airlines would not have succeeded in doing this without the cooperation of Nigerians. Who are the people selling tickets in Nigeria? They are Nigerians.

”Who are the people giving them multi-city designations? It’s Nigerians. Who are the people allowing Lufthansa to come into Abuja, and from Abuja goes to Port Harcourt? It’s Nigerians. Nigerians are the people allowing Qatar to do the same.

Patriotism

“If the government wants to help, it needs to make it easier for Air Peace to do the same thing that its competitors do. Second, the government can also send a memo out to all government officials, saying if you are traveling out on government funds, you can only fly Air Peace or a Nigerian airline.

”Honestly, Air Peace needs all the support it can get. Unfortunately, I don’t see Nigerians as very patriotic people. Some people would refuse to fly Air Peace because of their slave mentality, yet they will go and fly a 60-year old British Airways or Lufthansa aircraft that was repainted and redecorated.”

Ultimate winner

An aviation management consultant, Mr Babafemi Adeniji, on his part, wondered if the ongoing development could be called a price war.

Adeniji said: “Can we really describe this as a price war? I think it is premature to say it is. Air Peace made an introductory offer to woo price sensitive customers and, as is normal, we have a reaction from the competitors.

”The ultimate winner in any price war is the carrier with the lowest cost. The cost advantage is with the foreign carriers, given their scale and financial position.”

Toxic rhetoric

On what Air Peace could do, Adeniji called for two options, saying: “It either wins by having the lowest cost or finding a way to differentiate itself so that price may not be the main point of decision. Air Peace should strive to leverage their domestic and regional operations to drive loyalty and patronage.

”I am sure the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace and his team expected a response. I think we need to move away from the toxic rhetoric and take a harder approach to the issue so we can engage more constructively. It’s a response. When you go and pick fights, do you expect competition to roll over and die?”

Business environment

On how government can also help the indigenous carrier, the expert argued that “it  can improve the suffocating  business environment by solving the major issues that make the cost of doing business exorbitant and uncompetitive.”