By Lawani Mikairu

Former Vice-Chairman of Arik Air, Senator Anietie Okon  yesterday, alleged that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, forestalled the plans by some interest groups in government  to take over Arik Air and sell it cheaply to themselves. AMCON is currently managing the airline.

Senator Okon who disclosed this in Lagos also revealed that the said interest group took advantage of the financial distress of the airline “occasioned by the crash of Nigeria’s economy that forced it into recession and the plunge of the value of the Naira.”

According to him , the economic recession made it extremely difficult to obtain foreign exchange and run Arik, which has the largest fleet in the country, adding that the bad economy also affected some other companies in the country, which rely on forex to sustain their operations.

The former chairman also said, “ currently, no Nigerian airline is benefitting properly from the bilateral agreement Nigeria signed with other countries; rather government has given away all the routes to foreign airlines at the detriment of Nigeria’s interest.

“Arik was selling tickets for international destinations in naira while foreign airlines continue to demand for dollars and it had 2,600 staff against that of foreign airlines that may have at most 10 Nigerian staff. The economic and social consequences of government not supporting the airline and other airlines in the industry include job losses and the weakening of the value of naira.”

He, however, noted that AMCON management is striving to keep the airline in operation but with much difficulty, as most of the aircraft are due for maintenance but without the resources to take them out for repairs, adding that at the 11th year of the airline, the former management had planned to bring in new aircraft from Boeing, the B737 MAX to take over from the existing ones while the later go for heavy maintenance.