Nigeria Air: Airlines operators to know fate April 25 in suit against FG

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) will know on April 25, if the decision to transfer the suit it filed challenging the process of the appointment of Ethiopian Airlines as core investors and operators of proposed Nigeria Air, will proceed at the Federal High Court Abuja.

AON, which is the umbrella body of airline operators in Nigeria, had approached the court seeking to interpret the law as it affects the process of procuring the services of Ethiopian Airlines for the operation of the proposed Nigeria Air.

Hearing in the objection brought by AON to the order to transfer the matter to the Abuja division of the Federal High Court was concluded Wednesday before Justice James Omotosho, who fixed April 25 to rule on the matter.

Justice Omotosho further adjourned the matter to April 25 after adopting all processes filed by the AON and the defendants including the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika and Ethiopian Airlines.

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In contesting the process of appointing Ethiopian Airiness for the management of the proposed Nigeria Air, AON argued that the Ministry of Aviation ignored the legally mandatory stages of the public procurement process as stipulated in the law establishing the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).

According to AON, the law mandated the advertisement of the appointment of an operator for the proposed airline in three national newspapers. It told the court that the federal government ignored the law by advertising only in two national newspapers and one foreign newspaper.

AON further argued that the law could be breached only in emergency situations where the National Assembly could not convene to amend it, adding that, there is no emergency in the process of appointing an operator for Nigeria Air to warrant a transgression of the law.

The AON said that despite the matter advancing towards conclusion at the Federal High Court in Lagos; it was suddenly transferred to Abuja.

It argued that there was no extraneous situation to warrant the transfer of the suit to the Abuja division of the court even after the matter had reached advanced stage with a restraining order on the federal government to maintain status quo pending final determination of the suit.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.