Allen Onyema, the chairman and CEO of Air Peace in this interview with IFEOMA OKEKE-KORIEOCHA discusses the aviation industry’s growth, patriotism, and the importance of supporting local businesses. He praises the current administration’s efforts to boost the industry and emphasizes the need for Nigerians to prioritize indigenous enterprises.
What has the pricing on other airlines been since you commenced Lagos-London route?
Patriotism demands that every citizen must play his own role. Air Peace has always been playing this patriotic role for this country. And not forgetting that not so distant past, Nigerians were paying through their nose to undertake international travels. This airline came in and till date made flying to the UK affordable for Nigerians. Today, we are happy Nigerians could fly other airlines at better price compared to the past. You don’t need to fly Air Peace. We are not saying you must fly Air Peace. But we want you to fly those other foreign airlines at the right price.
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Because whatever you pay to a foreign country, it depletes our reserve. So, when you overpay, it is hurting the nation. We should begin to fight for our own. We should begin to love this country. Don’t equate indigenous businesses with the ownership of those businesses. Don’t look at it and say, oh, this business is owned by an Igbo man. Therefore, let’s bring it down. This business is owned by Hausa man, let’s bring it down. It is owned by a Yoruba man, let’s destroy it. Or it is owned by an individual. Why this individual? It seems he is making a lot of money. Let’s bring that business down.
That is the thinking of very wicked people who are very myopic. Because if you destroy any indigenous business that is providing massive job opportunities for the people, you don’t know when those people will get another job. You don’t know where the next suicide bomber, the next kidnapper will come from. You don’t know who will fall the next victim. It might be you. It might be your relation. It might be your child. It might be your sister or your brother or your parents. Nigerians should begin to do things that will promote the well-being of indigenous investments.
Anything other than that is an aberration. If you fight Dangote, this country should be grateful to Aliko Dangote. Whether you like it, hate it, love it, this country should be grateful to people like Aliko Dangote. This country should be grateful to people like Mike Adenuga. This country should be grateful to people like Jim Ovia, the Tony Elumelus of this world.
This country should be grateful to people like Allen Onyema. If you hate Dangote and you try to destroy him, you are destroying your country. Take his business down, millions of Nigerians will suffer. Like him or hate him, don’t look at Aliko and say, oh, let’s bring him down. What the man has contributed to the nation is unimaginable. Look at the millions of lives he is touching in the country. Look at the millions of people he has employed. If you are going to import all those things, this country will collapse. Nigerians should begin to jettison this pull him down syndrome. It should be jettisoned.
How will you assess the leadership of Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and Olubunmi Kuku, managing director, FAAN?
I must commend Festus Keyamo. Like him or hate him, we as Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), we know what we are enjoying now. We have a Minister that gives us a listening ear and that has trickled down to all his agencies.
If you call Olubunmi Kuku, Managing Director of the federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) now to complain about anything at the airport, it is done immediately. The one that cannot be done immediately, she will sit you down, give you time line when it will be done. So, the ease of doing business has come back to the aviation industry.
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And I thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointing someone like Festus Keyamo that brought a lot of positive revolution in the industry. And I am going to touch on that. Because what do we do in this country, if the government does anything and you praise it, they say you are a sycophant. Everybody wants you to criticize for the sake of criticism. I don’t belong to that. I am not afraid of anybody. I have criticized some government agencies, even during this present regime. If you do what is good, I would praise you. Without the regime of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the aviation industry would have been dead by now.
The beginning of good governance starts from the kind of people you put in to run any ministry. Do you know that Nigeria now is about to start receiving their first dry lease aircraft? It will happen in the next three weeks. This has not happened in a decade. And you said I should not praise such a minister? I should not praise such a President that brought to bear that kind of minister that is bring such positive changes? I will. Nigeria was unofficially blacklisted over 10 years. We are talking about issues of capacity. What did the governments in the past do about this lack of capacity? Now we have a government that has stepped out to change the situation.
All these big airlines you see all over the world, they don’t really own those planes. They are all financed. And in Nigeria, we are not appreciated. Most of these major airlines you see all over the world, they don’t even have up to 20 planes they bought with their own money. Everything is originally financed, leased. Then in Nigeria, you have airlines with over 35 planes fully purchased by them. Some 10, some five, and you still call them names.
You don’t even know the conditions under which they operate. Now this government is making it easier for aviation to thrive. They need our support. The language of Cape Town was now changed in favour of this country.
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For the first time in this country, a home grown airline is being treated like, this is our airline. I am proud of Olubunmi kuku. On our first flight from London to this place, you saw what happened, where some civil servants decided to put us at the bush end of the tarmac. That was not the government that did that. Some civil servants decided to be stupid and foolish. And their foolishness was called to order. To the extent that the young lady said, no, this is our own airline. If you go to any part of the world, they give their own support and priority. From today, C23, the avio-bridge, now belongs to Air Peace. She deserves applause. So, when people are doing what is right, let’s commend them. When they are not doing well, you can meet them and point out things they are not doing well. If they fail to do it, then you can constructively criticize, not criticize to demean. When you are demeaning your government, you are demeaning the image of this country outside the world.
