Domestic Airlines Petition Court to terminate the FG-Ethiopian Deal.

Due to legal action initiated by local airlines against the federal government, its foreign technical partner, and majority shareholders, the national carrier project may be put on hold.

On Friday, about eight regional airlines and their organization filed a lawsuit against the government, naming as defendants Nigerian Air, Ethiopian Airlines, Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika, and Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami.

In addition to other requests, the indigenous airlines ask the court to halt the national carrier agreement and revoke the Air Transport Licence that the Federal Government/Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority had previously granted Nigeria Air.

Additionally, they asserted that the business acting as the transaction’s transaction adviser was founded in March of last year and that it was connected to the aviation minister.

Additionally, the regional airlines claimed that the ATL provided to Nigerian Air did not have the required security clearance.

They contend that the Federal Government’s collaboration with Ethiopian Carriers on the project would force domestic airlines out of business by giving Ethiopian Airlines access to the domestic air travel market.

The Federal Government designated Ethiopian Airlines Consortium as the preferred bidder for Nigeria Air in September of this year. Hadi Sirika, the aviation minister, made the announcement in Abuja.

The Registered Trustees of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, which include Azman Air, Air Peace, Max Air, Topbrass Aviation, and United Nigeria Airlines, filed a lawsuit against the decision on Friday, it was discovered on Sunday.

Sirika, Nigeria Air Limited, Ethiopian Airlines, and Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami are among the defendants in the lawsuit. The case was brought before the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court of Nigeria.

Defendants: four

Nigeria Air Limited, Ethiopian Airlines, Senator Hadi Sirika, and the Attorney-General of the Federation were the first, second, third, and fourth defendants in the lawsuit.

The court issued summonses to Sirika and the other defendants included in the lawsuit, requiring them to appear before the summons within 30 days after receiving the summons.

According to the court, the summons was issued to determine a number of questions. It listed the inquiries to ask:

“1. Whether on proper construction of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) Nigeria Consolidated Rules & Regulations 2013 (as amended in 2022), Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act, International Civil Aviation Organisation Convention, Civil Aviation Act, Public Procurement Act, Concession Regulatory Commission (Est.) Act, 2005, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, Procurement Processes for Public Private Partnership in the Federal Government under the National Policy on Public Private Partnership (N4P) and Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations, 2015 and other regulatory statutes on aviation, companies and investment laws in Nigeria; the action, conduct and or decisions in the sale of the shares and operations of the 1st defendant is not invalid, null & void.

“2. Whether on construction of International Civil Aviation Organisation Convention, among others, the entire administrative actions and decisions of the third and fourth defendants in the sale of the shares of the 1st defendant to the 2nd defendant and its consortium is not invalid, void and of no effect having regard to the process embarked upon and the extant local and international laws and regulations on aviation including the terms and condition stated in the request for proposal.

“3. Whether, on a construction of Section 78 (1) & (2) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, Rule 406(2) of SEC Nigeria Consolidated Rules & Regulations 2013 (as amended in 2022), section 20 of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act, Article 7 of the International Civil Aviation Organization Convention, section 33 of the Civil Aviation Act Cap C13 LFN 2004 (as amended in 2006); the 2nd Defendant and its consortium were competent and qualified to bid for shares in the 1st Defendant and commence business accordingly.

“4. Whether, on a construction of Sections 4 & 5, among others, of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (Est.) Act, 2005; Sections 24 & 27, among others, of the Public Procurement Act; and Clauses 2, 3 and 4 of the Procurement Processes for Public Private Partnership in the Federal Government under the National Policy on Public Private Partnership, sections 76-81 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act; the selection of the 2nd Defendant and its consortium as the sole bidder in the bidding exercise for the Nigeria Air Project conducted by the 1st, 3rd& 4th Defendants is proper, lawful and valid?

“5. Whether the entire process for the sale and transfer of shares of the in the 1st Defendant to the 2nd defendant and its consortium by the 3rd and 4th Defendants is in line with the provisions of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (Est.) Act, 2005, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, International Civil Aviation Organisation Convention, the National Policy on Public Private Partnership, sections 76-81 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act and does not affect the entire process including the selection, approval or grant to the 2nd Defendant and its consortium by the 3rd and 4th Defendants is not invalid and thereby entitling the entire process to fresh bidding exercise?”

In the court petition, the domestic airlines requested that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority immediately revoke and terminate the air transport license it had granted to the first defendant.

N2bn in losses

In addition, they asked for an order of N2 billion as compensation “for the harm sustained by the Plaintiffs and still suffering as a result of the Plaintiffs’ wrongful exclusion, wrongful action, unlawful bidding and selection processes, and their wrongful projection of the Plaintiffs as not having properly, rightly, and timely bid for the Nigeria Air project.”

Ethiopian Airlines’ selection by the Federal Government as the primary investor and technical partner in the Nigeria Air project has been seen as a victory for the East African airline and a significant setback for Nigeria.

Some detractors said that there should have been other cooperation arrangements that would have benefited Nigeria more rather than granting Ethiopian Airlines a 49% ownership in Nigeria Air.

Despite Ethiopian Airlines’ success in Africa, according to Olumide Ohunayo, Assistant General Secretary of the Aviation Round Table, all of the airline’s partner companies on the continent had collapsed.

Ohunayo listed the failed partner airlines, which included Congo Airlines, Tchadia Airlines, Zambia Airways, and others, and said that only Asky Airline was still operating since it had just increased its fleet to roughly 12.

The Chief Execu¬tive Officer, Centurion Security Limited, Capt. John Ojikutu (retd.), had said in an interview with The PUNCH that similar partnerships in the past by the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways, with KLM and South African Airways in the early 1990s did not benefit Nigeria.

He said this new move with Ethiopian Airlines would not be different from the others.