![](\"http:\/\/arewa.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Senator-Hadi-Sirika.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHe explained that the project was not suspended because of lack of investors.<\/p>\n
A statement by Mr James Odaudu, Deputy Director, Media and Public Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, on Tuesday, said the national carrier project had an avalanche of well-grounded and ready investors.<\/p>\n
The investors, according to Sirika, include international finance institutions such as the Afro-Exim Bank, African Development Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, aircraft manufacturers \u2013 Airbus and Boeing.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cThey also include airlines such as Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Air etc. and some reputable individuals and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Office of the Minister of state for Aviation has noted, with consternation, various opinions, comments and observations in the media regarding the status and the reasons for the recent suspension of the processes leading to the establishment of a Nigerian national carrier.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong the reasons being given for its suspension, especially in the social media is the absence of interested and ready investors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis couldn\u2019t be farther from the truth, as the national carrier project has an avalanche of well-grounded and ready investors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The minister also stated that the country\u2019s participation at the Farnborough Air Show in the United Kingdom in July was not for the sole purpose of unveiling the Nigeria Air logo contrary to popular belief.<\/p>\n
He explained that the air show was also a meeting point with those potential investors who saw the event as another opportunity to market and re-emphasize their interests in the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also pertinent to clarify that the Federal Executive Council only suspended the process for the establishment of the national carrier for the time being. The project has not been killed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sirika had on September 19, announced the decision of the government to suspend the project for \u2018strategic reasons\u2019 without giving further details.<\/p>\n
The decision has elicited reactions from many stakeholders and other Nigerians who have alleged different reasons for the suspension of the project.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika has reacted to condemnations training suspension of national carrier project, Nigeria Air. He explained that the project was not suspended because of lack of investors. A statement by Mr James Odaudu, Deputy Director, Media and Public Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, on Tuesday, said the national carrier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[5043,4928],"class_list":["post-46241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-hadi-sirika","tag-nigeria-air"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arewa.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}