Revive transport sector, but Nigerian Airways? No way!

Members of the ongoing National Conference on Tuesday voted against any plan to either revive the defunct Nigeria Airways or set up any other national airline in response to the report of the Committee on Transport during their sitting in Abuja.

The committee had recommended that the three parastatals in the aviation industry — Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) — which were earlier merged, should be returned to the status quo, while all airports in the country must be opened 24 hours.

Chaired by Sen. Musa Abebe, the committee also decided that foreign airlines must be encouraged to employ more Nigerian workers, while seeking more efficient use of the national waterways and dredging of some rivers in the country.

“The transportation sector represents a significant proportion of Nigeria’s key infrastructure. It facilitates the links between spatially located facilities and acts as mechanism for maintaining social contact. Transportation affects the totality of a country’s activity — its people, economy, environment, and even its politics,” a part of the report stated.

“We should encourage public private joint venture in the provision of transport services. The Federal Government is encouraged as well as other tiers of governments to develop partnership that will lead to development of all the rural roads in the country.”

As an amendment to the report, some delegates proposed the revival of Nigeria Airways or the establishment of a replacement.

The delegates, rather, voted in support of an amendment for the linkage of all major international airways with railways, consequently jettisoning the idea of Nigeria Airways.

In its own report, the committee on energy urged the government to critically assess its current policies and plans, if the country must achieve the necessary leap into the top 20 economies by 2020,

The report, which was hailed by delegates, emphasised the importance of stabilising the privatised Distribution and Generation Companies (Discos) to the implementation of recovery plans in the power sector.