FG to announce palliatives for aviation industry next week

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika has said palliatives to the aviation industry will be announced as soon as next week as the sector inches towards restart.

He made this known at a Press briefing held with the presidential task force on Covid-19 after a test flight from Abuja to Lagos to ensure everything is in place for the restart.

Speaking on the restart, Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika said aviation was ready to go.

” 90 percent of what we do in civil aviation is not seen by people like the Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range ( VOR) and other safety systems put in place but aviation is ready, I don’t want to give a timeline, but when we are set to open, we open.

On palliatives, the minister said in conjunction with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance the amount for the palliative will be announced soon.

” Government is coming with the palliative very soon in conjunction with the CBN and the Ministry of Finance, by next week we will come out with the amount and palliative will be announced within the week. Within the economic sustainability plan. It will go round the entire civil aviation but may not be necessarily be like people expect.”

Meanwhile, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has expressed satisfaction with the handling of the test flight from Abuja ahead of the restart plan of the aviation industry stating that the industry is ready but will not give a timeline or date for restart

Sani Aliyu, the coordinator PTF COVID-19, who gave his assessment when he arrived with the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika on an aero contractors flight from Abuja after undergoing the same process at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport.

He said,” The PTF gave aviation…. Aviation is a highly regulated sector and this is the new normal. Things have changed and things have changed because we have a disease killing people.

” The aviation industry industry has shown what they have done as an industry and now it is left to Nigerians to do what they need to to be safe.

” While aviation has done tremendously well, what will protect you is yourself and we equally will make sure Nigerians can be safe when they fly.”

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.