Vanguard, MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2 01 2-27
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Omoh
Fi nancial~ .........................................................
Gabriel BROKEN LINKS Gabomoh@yahoo.co.uk only -08053068790
Setting up another airline Text puts a question mark on PI)F"s economic agenda for Nigeria lJe nF\fli\ broken by the
TFs
atilJr at President, Air
ans ~)ort Services Seruo Stafr AssOCIation of Nigena (A1SSSAN). Mr BenJ~nm P.iewu. last week 'h..~e Fedl!ral Government migb Goat t. national carrier by embet came as a surprise tb those who are welllnform~ of tb~ fate of Nigeria Airways. Nlgeria Airways was volun,ari1y lquidated by tbe
privatisation and tomorrow It erties . is nationalisatloo. Whatever is South Ahica Alrways was fac· the fancy of the leader goes . . ing the same problems that Ni· TheObasanjo-led government geria Airways was fadng then, that liquidated the Nigeria but the government of South Atrways was a PDP·led gov· Afnca injected funds lIltO the emment. Some SIX years after airline and privatized it. Kenya the auiine was liquidated, an· Alrline had to partner a fOfe1gn
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PDP-If.d Fed~ral Government amidst I,rote::ts from both well meaI1ring Nigenans and formet staffers of the delunct
airlinq. Oke\1U told newsmen in Lagos tha t a Federal Govemmtnt co nmittee was in place ,:0 eOSJre that Nigeria "has its OV'11 national carrier that .....puld s( ['Ve as a driver In
the na~(ln's aviation industry.~ The Al'SSSAN president noled that the PIOCesS of creallng the national camerwould have bee.n (om pIE ted long ago but for the June 3rd Dana plane crash t'lal slowed it down . "There .s a (ommittee on es· tabhst..ng a national carner and ihcidel tally, the loWI trad~eu'lion forum is rep. ,e· sen the unions there." It is funny lOW tm! PDP·led Federal Gov ment reverses its econOml pollcles . Today, It ls
other government ted by a airline. KlM. for it to SUrvlve. PDP President, Goodluck. but the Federal Government Jonathan, is thinking of float · sold its airline because some ing another airline with gov· powerful vested interests were ernment funds . Obasanjo was eyemg the assets of the 8.l.rline advised by the International which they wanted as their Finance Corporation, [fe, to share of the naliona.] cake . Inject funds into Nigena Nigeria Airways for anyone AirWays to get 11 operational wbo cares to recall. was the and thereafter privatise it. He biggest landlord lD GRA; all its was also ask.ed to allow properties lD wndon. US, Abld· Nigeria Auways merge wuh jan and Accra. were sold when major airlines to revamp its it was liquidated. yet. its staff operations . He refused both were not paid their entitlements options and scud; "I cannot reo and the matter is sWl m court inforce failure." Thereafter. he today. Curiously, the charter sold the airline and its prop· that set up Nigerian Airways
.w SINESS ,
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On wbat infrastructure will the proposed airline opera te? Nigeria Airways, its bangers, office buildings and everything were sold to priva te ind ivid u als [or peanuts; is the government going to do a buy back of the infrastructure DOW tha t it seems desperate? ,
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was an Act of parliament. The National Assembly did not revoke the charter. The Act that set up Nigeria Airways indicated that It was set up for national prestige. That was why it was fashionable then for an aircraft that was going to !.Dodon with 250 passen· gers on boan1 to be diverted from Kana to take a personal. ity to Saudi Arabia' and all passengers would be offloaded, while it carries one person and h15 entourage to Saudi Arabia and stays there grounded for days Every government ottioal that had travelled in Nigeria Airways then travelled for free ; they did nol pay. n those days. Nigerians used to feel good when at Heathrow Airport, they see an airline landing with "Green. White and Green" colour.;. As Nigerians, they felt good, whether the Nigena AIrways was making money or not, they felt good and had a sense of beloDgmg because the airline was advertising Niger· ia, Despite this, the government went ahead and sold the airline , Today, Nigerians are paying (or it. Nigeria does not have a national carner. The ar· gument 'o(wanting to set up
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an auline IS that (orelgn alt· lines are ripping oU Nigerians, Nigeria bad signed a Bilateral Air 5ervtce Agreemenl, BASA, with Britain and other countries. The present Minister of Aviation has seemingly discovered the lopsidedness in these agreements. BASA is an agreement that says 'I will come to your country 10 times a week.: you come to my country 10 times a week...' Now, for· eign arrlines take advantage of the terms of the agreement but Nigeria does not because it sold its national carrier. But the same government officials had ezploited it and traded Nigeria's tenns of the agreement for cash The 10 times Nigerian carrier is sup· posed to come to your country and 15 not corrung. give us the money in lieu of thelO times so that you can be coming 20 times ' That is what Nigeria did , Besides, on what infraslructure will the proposed ailline operale? Nigena Airways, ils hangers, office buildings and everytlung were sold to private individuals fN peanuts, Is the government going 10 do a buy back of the in+ trastructure now that it seems desperatel At what pnce 15 It gOlIlg to buy them back? Run· . ning In circles i5 not the best of econOmlC opllon for a coun· try 1Il a hurry to catch up with others. Why was Nigeria Air· ways liquidated in the first in· stance?
ECONOMY
Scientist recommends sweet potato flour as alternative to wheat
A
WBnj,n Agricul'mal ,Mr Kiriml Sin·
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S enti di, ha ftdvi tries t use fOrCO~tctiD natlv t o w paper prese TrieD ial lnterrul\IO ical d. RO okut Og that S /'eel Vita in was tpUe
~ African
coun· veet potato flour eries as an alter· eat. Sindi, 10 a tted at the 16th .ymposium of Societyfor11'op. ! Crops, in Abe· n State, noted otato is rich in His paper Whol is the consume pe!pUon 01 bahery produ umCl ew:lUI\.itaminA rich -eel lato and wheatl st said that the cons plio of sweet potato couldfb ' teVUaminAdeficelKf co Ion in many parts oflhe fonlinf nt. ·Sweet pota. 10 IS better wbeal because it is clleliM while Lmported wheat is C~Uy, ~ Sindi said. He uplain I thai Abica had many local alternatives to wheat nour t!t4t could reduce
thfn
tbe cost of producing confec· tioneries. According to him, flour made from potato and cassava can be used to bake bread, doughnut, bISCUits and cakes, reducing production cost by 15 per cent. 5indi said that a study, conducted by himself and four other researchers in Rwanda showed that confec· tioneries, made a combination of sweet potato flour and wheat, tasted better, He said that respondents in the research, preferred such can· fectioneries to those made from only wheat -Manufacturers who import agricultural commodities like wheat are facing increastng costs due to rising commodi· Iy prices . Sweet potato can replace up to .0 per cent of the wheat in bakery products , This can lower production costs, save a country's fOrelgn exchange, and increase the
rural farmer's income. ~ he not· ed. Using the Rwanda study as
a reference point. Sinru rec· ommended the establishment
of more and effiClent distribution and supply chains .
'From Left; Director, Brand BuJding. Unllever Nigeria PIc. David Okeme; Director, TempJe School, Mm, Shirley O.'dlaredio; Managing DJrector, Unllever Nigeria Pic, Thabo Mobe; NaUonal Presidenl, Medical Women 's Association of Nigeria. Dr. Christian Campbell and the S-)'eOJ'-OJd chIldren o/Temple School, 01 the Ufebuoy 2012 Global Hand.washing Day J(jc}{.()lJ Campaign Togged: ' Help a CIIJld Reach !he Age of Five One Nigeria Agoins, Diarrhoea', held in Lagos recently.
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