Allen Onyema, the chief executive officer of Air Peace, has condemned international stigmatisation of Nigerians, arguing that it was impeding Nigerians’ success in business.
Onyema said Nigerian airlines cannot get dry aircraft lease because of international stigmatisation.
The Air Peace boss disclosed in a chat with journalists in Lagos Friday that in 2016 Air Peace bought an aircraft from the United States but the aircraft was not released to them till eight months after, despite consistent dialogue with the U.S. embassy in Nigeria and relevant government agencies, no one came to the airline’s aid.
He noted that no Nigerian will ever treat a U.S. citizen this way and if that happens, they would haunt that Nigerian down but no one speaks for Nigerians in the country.
Speaking during a press conference in Lagos on Friday, Onyema said any investment that is creating jobs in the country should be protected.
This is also as he called on Nigerians to support indigenous enterprises, stressing that it was time to take patriotism to another level and stop the pull-down syndrome.
He commended Hadi Sirika, the minister of aviation for addressing multiple frequencies granted to foreign airlines, he however pleaded that more should be done to protect indigenous carriers so that more jobs would be created and ticket prices will drop.
“Air Peace has helped in bringing down the prices of tickets to Dubai. For instance, on Air Peace you can pay as low as 180,000 for a return trip to Dubai, N650,000 for business class and N850,000 on First class.
“When we start the London route, we will bring down the prices of ticket so that even students can afford to go to London. We will start the Mumbai route by March 2020 and later in the year, we will commence direct flight to Tel Aviv in Israel,” he said.
According to him, “It is about the lives we are touching and the families by extension. It is not about what we make and the truth is that Air Peace employs 3, 200 directly and if these ones lose they jobs and many of them are virile and agile, imagine what they may turn to? And so it is my joy to see these people off the streets and gainfully employed.
“In some countries, as employers, if you have a workforce of about 30-50 they treat you with respect and provide you with support but this is not done here and we urge government to look into this so we can protect the jobs, reduce crimes and have a saner society,” Onyema said.
Onyema commended Aero Contractors for commencing C-checks (maintenance) on aircraft, adding that with more capacity, Aero will help indigenous airlines save billions on naira spent annually abroad on aircraft maintenance abroad.
