Court Suspends FG National Carrier Project Indefinitely, Adjourns Case Till 2023

Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of a Federal High Court siting in Lagos has stopped the establishment of the proposed national carrier – Nigeria Air, by the Nigerian Federal Government.

Ruling pending the determination of the suit filed by the Registered Trustees of the Airline Operators of Nigeria and five others in the aviation industry, the court also reordered the Federal Government and domestic airlines to maintain status quo in their suit relating to the establishment of airline.

The Nigerian Voice have earlier reported that the four other plaintiffs are Azman Air Services Limited, Air Peace Limited, Max Air Limited, United Nigeria Airlines Company Limited and Topbrass Aviation Limited, who were the first to sixth plaintiffs.

In the suit, the first to fourth defendants include Nigeria Air Limited, Ethiopian Airlines, Senator Hadi Sirika (Minister of Aviation, Federal Ministry of Aviation) and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

This came as the Federal Ministry of Aviation declared on Thursday that it would deploy every necessary step to vacate the order that had stopped the ongoing work towards the establishment of the national airline.

This development is coming on the heels of this newspaper's exclusive report on Tuesday which revealed that lawyers representing the Federal Government and Ethiopian Airlines would battle at the Federal High Court.

After series of legal arguments, the judge, on Thursday, ordered that the national carrier should be halted and subsequently adjourned the case till February 2023.