AMCON takes over Arik Air (Read full details)

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria on Thursday said it had taken over Arik Air to prevent it from going bust.

“AMCON has taken over the management of Arik because the whole place is in a mess,” said AMCON spokesman Jude Nwauzor.

“We have appointed a new management to stabilise the airline and prevent it from going down like other airlines in Nigeria.”

Arik, which was set up in 2006, has a 60 percent share of domestic flights in Nigeria. It also serves destinations across West Africa and flies to London, Johannesburg and New York.

Company spokesman Ola Adebanji confirmed the move but declined to elaborate.

AMCON said Arik had failed to repay loans totalling 135 billion naira ($429 million, 402 million euros) by the end of December and also had debts to “a lot of foreign creditors”.

Staff salaries have not been paid for up to eight months and it had defaulted on payments for insurance, repairs and servicing of its planes, it added.

“International creditors have seized some of its planes because of mounting debts,” said Nwauzor.

Passengers have borne the brunt of the increasing management and financial problems at Arik, with frequent cancellations and delays to services.

Last month, irate passengers beat up one of Arik’s officials at Lagos international airport following the third consecutive cancellation of their flight to South Africa.

In December, services were grounded by a 24-hour strike over unpaid wages.

“The government felt all this nonsense should stop,” said Nwauzor. The aviation industry is already facing challenges and government does not want Arik, being the largest carrier in Nigeria, to go the way of others and so decided to intervene.

“Our intervention is to stabilise and run Arik into profitability so that it can go back to regular and undisrupted operations. We will also encourage interested investors to inject fresh funds into it.”

Arik is not the only airline struggling: Nigeria’s second-biggest carrier, Aero Contractors, stopped services for four months last year because of “serious financial difficulties”.

Airlines say a lack of foreign currency caused by the economic recession in Nigeria has left them unable to pay fuel suppliers and in some cases landing charges at airports outside the country.

NAMA pledges training support for NAF personnel (Read full details)

Capt. Fola Akinkuotu

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has pledged to continue to support the Nigerian Air Force in the training of critical manpower, especially in the area of air traffic control.

The Managing Director of the agency, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, made the pledge while receiving a delegation from the Air Warfare Department of the Command and Staff College, Jaji in Lagos on Monday.

Akinkuotu said that the safety and security of the nation’s airspace depended largely on the capacity of critical personnel of both the Nigerian Air Force and NAMA.

“This civil/military synergy and cooperation over the years have ensured that we have a robust capacity to manage our airspace.
“This has remained safe and secure for efficient and seamless air navigation by both civil and military authorities,’’ he said.

The NAMA boss also commended the Nigerian Air Force for providing security around the agency’s navigational aids in airports nationwide, adding that this had ensured that the nation’s critical assets are not vandalised or destroyed.

Earlier, the leader of the team, Air Commodore Abubakar Liman, said the visit was to expose students of the college to the practical application of the basic management principles acquired in the classroom.

Liman said the exposure was to make analytical comparison between a typical military unit and a civil organisation performing complementing roles for a better organised military and a more secured nation.

He expressed optimism that with the quality of operational exposure participants would get from NAMA, the middle class officers would be better equipped to handle higher responsibilities after graduation.

NAMA pledges training support for NAF personnel