THISDAYonline

The Federal Government may have opted for the removal of the beleagured national carrier, Nigeria Airways with the return wednesday of the immediate-past Managing Director of the airline, Mr. Jonathan Jiya, to his former beat following an accord between him and the government. The move runs counter to the government's position that the airline has been liquidated.

But his return has already generated tension among the workers who have threatened that the only way to guarantee peace is for Jiya to be ready to immediately pay oustanding nine months salaries and 18 months pension arrears totalling N4.7 billion.

Jiya voluntarily resigned his appointment on December 19, 2002 at the peak of the restiveness of pensioners and workers over unpaid salaries and pension arrears.

However, his resignation was promptly rejected by former Aviation Minister, Dr. (Mrs) Kema Chikwe, who alleged that the resignation was unacceptable in the face of the several unresolved issues in the management of the airline, particularly the debt incurred on the Air Atlanta Icelandic deal.

The return of Jiya to his former beat wednesday confirmed THISDAY's recent story that the Federal Government had re-appointed him to oversee the affairs of the airline.

His return, it was gathered wednesday, was a tacit plan by the government to begin the revival of the airline which is currently completely grounded due to the intrigues of Federal Government officials, some of whom have been coveting the assets of the national carrier.

The current move to bring Jiya back, it was further gathered, was borne out of the sudden realisation that South African Airways (SAA) is not the best option for the proposed national flag carrier, Nigerian Eagle Airline.

Until recently, the Federal Government had favoured SAA as the core investor for the emerging flag carrier which is being configured to be wholly private-sector driven. SAA was found to be unfit for a purely private-sector arrangement of that magnitude since it is fully owned by the South African government.

The situation had prompted the Federal Goivernment to have a rethink on the liquidation of Nigeria Airways.

Although Jiya was at the Nigeria Airways headquarters in Lagos wednesday where he called the shots before his resignation, some staff of the airline disclosed that he spent about an hour in the premises and photocopied some documents in an office and told them he would formally resume on Friday.

But it could not be ascertained what the reaction of the Acting Managing Director of the airline, Mr. Andrew Okunnuga, on the latest development is.

THISDAY gathered that the Federal Government has converted Jiya's resignation to leave of absence.

However, the Assistant General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Motajo Abdulkareem, who spoke on behalf of the workers wednesday said it was unbelievable that Jiya was making a comeback to the airline after he resigned voluntarily following the tension that his non-payment of salaries and pension generated.

He stated that the workers were not interested in the coming of Jiya but would not welcome anybody coming that is not ready to pay the oustanding N4.7 billion salaries and pension arrears.

However, former General Manager, Public Affairs of the airline, Mr. Chris Azu Aligbe, who spoke to newsmen on the latest development said that contrary to the workers' claim, Jiya cleared all salary arrears before his resignation, adding that it was after his departure that things degenerated.

Aligbe noted that Chikwe had turned down the resignation of Jiya, accusing him of certain official misdemeanour.

Such allegations, he added, were investigated at the highest level of the nation's security apparatus and that the man was given a clean bill, adding that since his resignation was rejected ab initio, the government may have found him the best choice to execute whatever agenda they have for the airline.

Curiously, Jiya is coming back at a time when the Federal Government had through its action grounded the operations of Nigeria Airways, having failed to renew the airline's insurance cover totalling about $940,000. This led to the grounding of the only flying aircraft, a B737.

With Jiya's return, the Acting Managing Director, Okunnuga, may have to go back to his former beat as General Manager, Marketing.