By Dele Sobowale

“Court order: Arik Air bars Arumeni-Ikhide from accessing premises” – Report, April 12, 2023

Before going on, there is a need, once again, to declare that I have never met Mr. Johnson Arumeni-Ikhide, the Chairman/Founder of Arik Airlines or any member of his family. Like most regular flyers, since 1974, I have had great admiration for his courage and patriotism for setting up an airline which, at its peak, was far better than the defunct Nigerian Airways, NA. Arik Air flew to airports which did not exist by the time NA crashed under Obasanjo. An attempt to float another airline with Virgin Air ended in the usual public sector fiasco.

 Into the void created by government stepped the private sector. Several airlines, all now moribund, took to the skies; hoping to establish a tradition of long serving airlines elsewhere abroad. They were long on courage; but, short on history. They must have forgotten that the leaders of the USA, who nurtured long lasting airlines were called Kennedy, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Obama; not Abacha, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and Buhari. The first set, in their nation, turned dust to gold. The second set, here in Nigerian turned gold to dust.

 Most Nigerians must have forgotten that the first private airline to take off, when the sector was deregulated, was Okada Airways – owned by Chief Gabriel Igbiniedon, CON, CFR. In the North, the pioneer was Kabo Airlines; based in Kano. There is no need to list, seriatim, all the others which now populate the graveyard of domestic airlines. But, Arik Air was relatively so big that I personally made the same mistake most people had about the TITANIC, the British passenger boat, the biggest and most advanced in 1912. So far above the rest was it, its Chief Engineer described it as “unsinkable”. “Unsinkable” went down on its maiden voyage with 1,500 souls. I actually felt that Arik was too big to fail. I still don’t believe that the banks and the Federal Government gave the Chairman and management sufficient time and support to enable it get out of the nose dive, straighten out and fly normally again.

 How the airline ended up in receivership is not important here, at the moment. I am not even disputing whether or not it should be in that position. It is the disrespect to court orders that bothers me. Whoever issued the “order from above”, in my opinion is taking away from the Arumeni-Ikhide family one of their legal protections under the law and might have an ulterior motive. My reason for saying this is simple. I have been in a similar situation before.

 In the mid-1980s, I was seconded by my company to a subsidiary in which we held 33 per cent of the shares. The soft drink plant was virtually at death’s door. All the shareholders were desperately trying to restructure; but that was taking time. The wolves (my name for the creditors) were sitting at the gate. I resumed as seven of the wolves moved to appoint receiver/managers. Meanwhile, my Chairman had given me instructions to ensure that nobody takes over the plant. With Board permission, I hired three young lawyers (just a cut above the Charge-and-bail variety) and went to ‘war’ with SANs representing National Bank, WEMA, African Continental, sugar, bottles and crown cork suppliers, as well as transporters. In one inglorious week, I was in three different courts – just to seek long adjournments. Companies are not run on Biblical precepts; and, at any rate, there was a company to rescue from the wolves.

 My bouts lasted for 15 months; during which no receiver entered the premises or prevented us from operating. It was in the process of fighting off the wolves that we stumbled on “gold”. Our borehole could pump three times as much potable water as we needed for bottling drinks. We started selling water and making more money than bottling drinks – virtually for nothing. It is doubtful if any of the creditors could have discovered that way out of the mutual problem on their own. From discussions with them, all they were interested in was the vast land. It was a huge forest when it was bought and became part of an estate with plots selling for fifty times the original price because we built two roads leading to the plant which lead to main roads.  

I have gone to great lengths to arrive at the main point in defense of Mr. Arumeni-Ikhide and family just to let people who have never found themselves in this predicament understand how the actors in the drama feel. I had nothing to lose by failing to hold the wolves off – except perhaps the feeling every born competitor has when he loses a contest. I would certainly have been devastated if the business was started by me and the dream of greatness had turned to nightmares. To me, entrepreneurs in that situation, if they feel like having another opportunity should be encouraged to try again. The only exception to the rule should be when they have allowed the Nigerian Factor to creep deep into the business; and it has been damaged irretrievably. There was another airline to use as an example of the sort of organisational attitude which is ruinous.

 Years ago, a group of columnists, including me, were invited to participate at the graduation ceremony of the American University in Nigeria, AUN, owned by Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. They arranged to book our flight to Yola and back to Lagos – after spending three days at the most beautiful university campus in Nigeria. I had other ideas. There was no way I would go as far as Yola without visiting Maiduguri, Michika, Jalingo etc. I asked to be booked to only Yola; I would find my way back to Lagos. On the best of days, only two flights out of Yola are available. Most times there is only one.

 After touching bases with my old friends in the Northeast, I booked the flight from Yola to Lagos; it was the second and last flight for the day. The flight was fully booked; in fact about 25 people could not be boarded. Flight was called, one hour later than scheduled; we boarded and waited for half an hour for take-off. Then there was an announcement. “All passengers should disembark; the flight has been cancelled. Those who cannot wait till tomorrow will have their fares refunded”, or words to that effect. I had a 2pm appointment next day.

The Chairman/owner of the airline and his family wanted to fly to Abuja urgently; and they don’t fly with passengers. Three expatriates and I took a car from Yola to Jos, approximately 480 kilometres, six hours, to take an early morning flight. We all vowed never to patronise the airline again; we were also unanimous in the view that the airline would fail. It did – less than a year after.

Again, I have gone to great lengths to point to an attitude, among Nigerian owners of airlines, which result in their being grounded at last. I honestly hope the Arumeni-Ikhide family members did not indulge themselves in a similar manner and caused the business to collapse. I felt bad about it.

Any connection with Nigeria Air?

“There are no desperate situations; only desperate men.” Goebbels, 1897-1945

Meanwhile, the Assets Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, which inherited nearly N6 trillion toxic loans from Professor Soludo’s consolidated banks, after the global financial crisis of 2008-2010, has failed to recover up to 20 per cent of the loans in 13-15 years. It has willfully refused to publish the names of the defaulters – despite court order. For AMCON to become very active at a time when Mr. Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation is desperate to lay his hands on planes to brand with Nigeria Air, makes me wonder if Arik planes are not being offered as sacrificial lambs to save Sirika’s face. I will protest as strongly as I can if this happen again. As the Biblical injunction told us; “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Mr. Arumeni-Ikhide is my neighbour now.