The civil society council in a press conference in Abuja on Monday said the operations of indigenous operators such as Air Peace must be protected by the Nigerian government from foreign conspirators, hence the need to mandate flying of Nigerian brands.
The National Civil Society Council Of Nigeria (NCSCN) has called on President Bola Tinubu to give an Executive Order mandating all government officials embarking on international trips to routes covered by indigenous operators to make use of such home-based carriers.
The civil society council in a press conference in Abuja on Monday said the operations of indigenous operators such as Air Peace must be protected by the Nigerian government from foreign conspirators, hence the need to mandate flying of Nigerian brands.
The NCSCN Executive Director, Blessing Akinlosotu, said as the coordinating body for over 500 civil groups and non-governmental organisations, the coalition called on the Tinubu government to protect the Nigerian aviation sector from foreign predators.
Akinlosotu said, "With a massive population of over 70 million persons travelling in and out of the country annually accounting for over 70% of the entire travelling statistics of Africa, the Aviation Industry in Nigeria is a highly critical sector to National Development.
"The ongoing dramatic pricing war occasioned by the entry of the Air Peace into the Lagos-London Route, has opened a large can of worms and exposed decades long economic sabotage and unacceptable exploitation of Nigeria by Foreign Airline Operators in various international routes.
"The commencement of Air Peace Operations in the Lagos-London route at a low rate or price has become one of the greatest shockers and historic development in the Industry which has sparked a frenzy of actions and reactions by players in the industry. Before the commencement of Air Peace operations in the Lagos/London route, foreign operators had, for decades, monopolised this high traffic and very profitable route, taking undue advantage of innocent Nigerian travellers, subjecting them to pay costliest fares in Africa, while other countries pay much lower rates for same destination.
"Most foreign operators such as Turkish airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, Lufthansa, KLM/Air France, Qatar Airways, Air Maroc and Ethiopian Airlines charged as high as Four Million Naira (N4,000,000) for the economy class tickets on the Lagos-London while business and first class tickets were sold for as high as Eight and Fifteen Million Naira respectively.
"Immediately Air Peace announced its operations on the London route with fares which have been found to be by far, much more affordable for Nigerians, the foreign carriers, out of fear of losing their massive Nigerian passengers to Air Peace, have engaged in collusive price war and dirty aero-politics for survival and to frustrate Air Peace out of the London route like they have done to other Nigerian carriers that plied that route in the past.
"The Federal Government and all well-meaning Nigerians must rise up to save Air Peace, and other well-meaning Indigenous airlines, from this international Aero-politics and pricing warfare by foreign airlines.
"The Civil Society Council hereby calls on all Nigerians to patronise Air Peace in the Lagos- London route, irrespective of the deceptive lower pricing of the foreign conspirators, as this will save our Naira and further grow our National Economy.
"All the foreign operators repatriate their profits and funds back to their home countries, but Air Peace is indigenous and reinvests profits here in Nigeria to the advantage of the Naira.
"Also, an Executive Order should be given to all Government Official embarking on International Trips to routes within the operations of Indigenous Operators such as the Air Peace, to mandatorily fly our Nigerian brands.
"Furthermore, Air Peace should be permitted to extend airlift from Abuja to London to increase the weekly operations. All bureaucratic bottlenecks, and unnecessary hurdles such as delays in issuance of requisite permits and other certifications such as End Users Certification needed for imported parts must be completely eliminated."