Osoba applauds Air Peace as Onyema wins Zik prize for leadership

Former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba on Sunday praised Air Peace for fighting its way to the top spot as the biggest airline in West and Central Africa despite the daunting challenges of doing business in the aviation sector.

Osoba made the commendation in Lagos during the 2018 Zik Prize in Leadership, where Air Peace Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Allen Onyema was honoured with the Zik Prize in Entrepreneurial Leadership.

He described Onyema as an exceptional entrepreneur who had transformed the airline business with the establishment of Air Peace, expressing optimism that the carrier would make Nigeria proud with its soon-to-start long-haul flights to Sharjah, Dubai, Johannesburg, London, Houston, Guangzhou and Mumbai.

Osoba, who was the chairman of the 2018 Zik Prize in Leadership ceremony, said: “Those who are being honoured today (Sunday) are eminently qualified. They earned the awards. Onyema has shown his quality. 

lIn spite of the difficulties of doing business in the aviation sector, Air Peace has become one of the biggest airlines in Africa. I fly Air Peace most of the time.”

Earlier, organisers of the awards, the Public Policy Research and Analysis Centre (PPRAC), gave insight into why the Air Peace boss was selected for the Zik Prize in Entrepreneurial Leadership.

“As a testament to his industry and hard work, Onyema has in record time of four years built Air Peace Limited into the biggest airline fleet in West and Central Africa. 

"Air Peace has distinguished itself in the aviation industry, providing jobs for thousands of Nigerians and foreigners,” the Prof. Jubril Aminu-led Advisory Board of PPRAC said.

Meanwhile, Onyema has said his Zik Prize in Entrepreneurial Leadership was a challenge for him to sustain his passion for investing in pro-development projects and campaigning for nationalism without ethnic bias.

He described Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe in whose honour the prize was instituted as a highly detribalised Nigerian leader, saying the nationalistic ideals of the late first Nigerian president should guide the nation in its quest for peace and unity.  

We deboarded unruly passenger due to safety concerns - Air Peace

Air Peace on Monday explained that it deboarded a passenger, identified as Mr Christopher Aniagboso , from its Lagos-Owerri flight to guarantee the safety of crew members and customers.

Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah,  made the claim in a statement issued on Monday in Lagos. 

Iwarah said Aniagboso,  who had booked the flight on May 12 was deboarded because his conduct had the  potential of jeopardising the safety of Air Peace passengers and crew.

He said : " Aniagboso had missed his morning Lagos-Owerri flight on May 12. He later showed up for the afternoon flight in good time and was issued an over-wing exit seat on request.

“After boarding, he was approached by a crew member for the normal safety briefing for passengers in the over-wing exit seats, but he suddenly claimed he could not understand English.

"Other passengers around him offered to translate to him, but he insisted that the crew must brief him in Igbo.

“When all efforts to have  Aniagboso cooperate with the crew failed, the crew advised him to change his seat as the flight was already running late. He declined the advice to change his seat."

According to him, the captain of the flight, who was eventually briefed on the development, also did everything to secure the passenger's cooperation to no avail. 

Iwarah said at this point, the airline's crew members were left with no other alternative than to advise Aniagboso to disembark to enable the flight depart.

“It is important to state that only those who are able to clearly understand and express their willingness to perform their safety responsibility are allowed by aviation regulations to sit in the exit row.

" It is also clearly stated in the safety cards that only those who can speak English are allowed to sit in the exit row.

"Also, all through his interaction with our ground staff, Aniagboso communicated in fluent English.

"His claim of not being able to communicate in English at the point of the safety briefing was, therefore, only meant to disrupt and delay the flight," he said. 

Iwarah added that Air Peace takes pride in promoting the use of all local languages on board its flights without discrimination. 

"We encourage our crew to speak the local language whenever it is possible to do so. But we do not allow passengers with ill motive to disrupt our flights and endanger the safety of our esteemed customers and crew.

“Conducts with the potential of jeopardising the safety of our esteemed customers and crew are not welcome on any of our flights," he said. 

FG urged to release accumulated Export Expansion Grant

In the last six months, non-oil exporters in the country have been mounting pressure on the federal government to release the accumulated Export Expansion Grant (EEG), from 2007 – 2016.

In a letter dated 10 April and signed by the Executive Secretary,  Organised Private Sector Exporters Association (OPEXA), Mr. Jaiyeola Olanrewaju, and directed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the association pointed out that the federal government had earlier approved promissory notes (PN) programme in 2017, at its Federal Executive Council  meeting and forwarded to the National Assembly for their approval in 2018. It was stated that National Assembly had also conveyed its approval for payment of N195 billion claims in January, 2019.

“We, the exporters have been waiting anxiously, since the approval from NASS for the PNs to be issued. It was only on 4th April 2019, almost 70 days after the approval from NASS that the DMO (Debt Management Office) called the exporters to brief us on the implementation of PN program,” the letter stated.

It went on to condemn the sudden move by the DMO to issue the PNs through a Reverse Auction Process, adding that the DMO has not been forthcoming with any further details about the mechanism of Reverse Auction Process.

Consequently, the association made a three-point demand on the issue. Firstly, was that the Reverse Auction Process (RAP) for issuance of Promissory Notes (PNs) should be reconsidered by the government. Secondly, that the government (including the Debt Management Office, DMO) should restrict themselves to issuing the PNs as the shortest term feasible for payment, while equal treatment should be meted to all beneficiaries of all categories of PN.

The third demand by OPSEA was that exporters should be issued PNs with shortest tenure (spread evenly over a maximum period of three years) bearing in mind that payment has been delayed for a period of three to 12 years for member’s claims.

The association declared that members were becoming unsettled in their businesses more than ever and unable to carry out their vital roles.
The association said government’s inaction was causing challenges to their members.

One of such major challenges it stated, was the accumulating interests on loans which was said to be making their investment and pricing decisions in their businesses very difficult. “We have taken up debts to service the receivables and these debts are incurring further interests with the continuing delay in the payment of EEG claims,” the letter added.

Though it is believed that the current government under the leadership of President Mohamadu Buhari, has shown clear intention to take the country out of the perennial dependence on oil revenue by getting other sectors up and working, analysts have insisted that the ongoing dispute could be a stumbling block if not nip in the bud.

According to OPSEA, the inability of government to meet up with the promissory notes for non-oil exporters for dues owed them for over nine years may undermine the successes recorded so far by the policy.

In a letter to the president appealing for his intervention on the matter, OPSEA recounted that before now, the previous administration commenced the issuance of EEG to genuine exporters but the grant was later suspended in 2007 due to duplicitous claims and counter-claims by stakeholders over who and who should indeed benefit from the package.

Meanwhile, initially pressure was on the National Assembly to do its work and give its legislative nod for the issuance of the federal government’s N350 billion Promissory Notes to exporters in continuation of the EEG. But the pressure is now back on the executive to complete what it started by ensuring that the PNs are settled without further delays.

Reliably sources have it that the Federal Executive Council had sent three issues for the formal approval by the National Assembly earlier in the year. The three executive resolutions bothered on the EEG claims, payment of construction contractors and pensions.

While the lawmakers were said to have since rectified the two items, it was however unclear then if legislative action on the EEG claims was made.