Yemisi Izuora
Arik airline is concluding plans to go public by next year to enable interested public invest in the airline.
Chairman of the airline, Sir Joseph Ararume Ikhide, who disclosed this at the 2015 breakfast meeting of Aviation Roundtable in Lagos with the theme entitled: “Ownership, funding and sustainability of Nigerian airlines – A perennial challenge.” explained that the airline is going public not because a national carrier is in the making but to add value to the aviation industry.
He lamented that the banking industry in Nigeria is not airline friendly and urged government to establish a special fund for the aviation industry to be managed by Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and NCAA.
He also suggested that NCAA should be an independent body to regulate airlines and should be operated by somebody who rose through the rank to enable continuity.
He further urged the President to carry out a forensic audit of the aviation sector to rid it of corrupt practices by ministry officials whom he said constitute an obstacle to growth of the sector, adding that unless such forensic audit is carried out, issues relating to the growth and development of the aviation sector would not be adequately addressed.