Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode, has defended former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the collapse of Nigeria Airways, insisting that decades of corruption, mismanagement and financial problems before 1999 were responsible for the airline’s downfall.
Fani-Kayode’s position comes amid a public disagreement between the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over the unpaid pensions and gratuities of retired Nigeria Airways workers.
Keyamo had criticised Atiku over his comments on the pension issue, arguing that the former vice-president was part of the administration that oversaw the liquidation of the national carrier in September 2004 without settling the entitlements of its workers.
However, Fani-Kayode, who served as Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation from 2006, rejected the suggestion that Obasanjo’s administration was responsible for creating the crisis that led to the airline’s collapse.
In a post on his verified X handle on Thursday, Fani-Kayode argued that Nigeria Airways was already in a disastrous condition when Obasanjo returned to office as civilian president in 1999.
According to him, the airline had 32 functional aircraft, experienced pilots and crew members, an effective management team and an accountable board of directors when Obasanjo left office as military head of state in 1979.
He claimed that two decades later, only one aircraft remained, and it was no longer operational, while the airline had accumulated substantial debts and lost most of its assets.
“In fairness to President Obasanjo, the Nigeria Airways ‘mess’, as you have described it, was established before he came back to power in 1999. It was indeed a mess, but it was not of Obasanjo’s making,” Fani-Kayode said.
He maintained that the airline’s collapse resulted primarily from corruption, chronic insolvency, operational failures and mismanagement by successive management teams and boards between 1979 and 1999.
Fani-Kayode added that the liquidation process, which was completed in 2004, followed years of financial deterioration and the inability of the airline to sustain its operations.
He also argued that Obasanjo’s decision not to continue providing public funds to rescue the struggling airline was justified, despite the difficult consequences for its former employees.
Beyond the controversy over the airline’s collapse, Fani-Kayode disclosed that efforts to address the outstanding pension obligations had encountered resistance within the Federal Government.
He recalled that in 2006, while serving as aviation minister, he presented a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council seeking approval for payments to retired Nigeria Airways workers, following the recommendations of a committee.
According to him, the proposal was rejected because some cabinet members questioned whether the former employees were entitled to pension payments.
Fani-Kayode said subsequent administrations led by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and former President Muhammadu Buhari later intervened and paid most of the outstanding pension claims.
He also commended Keyamo for addressing the remaining obligations to the airline’s former workers, describing the settlement of their entitlements as an important step towards resolving a longstanding problem.
The exchange has brought renewed attention to the history of Nigeria Airways, the circumstances surrounding its liquidation and the responsibility of successive administrations for the airline’s financial troubles and the unpaid benefits of its former employees.
While Keyamo has focused on the role of the Obasanjo administration in the 2004 liquidation, Fani-Kayode has argued that the roots of the crisis predated Obasanjo’s return to power, shifting the debate towards decades of alleged mismanagement and the subsequent efforts to settle pension liabilities.
