![[Nigeria] Government takes over Arik Airlines to avert crisis](Arik Nigeria.jpg)
[Nigeria] Government takes over Arik Airlines to avert crisis
The Nigerian government announced a lifeline to financially distressed Arik Airlines to continue.
The management of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) said the decision to intervene clearly underscores the government's commitment to instill sanity in the country's aviation sector to prevent a major catastrophe in the country.
The development will afford Arik Airlines, which is the largest local carrier in the country, to go back to regular and undisrupted operations, avoid job losses, protect investors and stakeholder funds as well as ensure safety and stability in the already challenged aviation sector, according to AMCON spokesperson, Jude Nwauzor.
Arik has regularly cancelled flights because of lack of money to buy fuel, stranding thousands of passengers over the past year.
Under the new arrangement, the airline would be managed by Roy Ilegbodu, a veteran aviation expert, under the receivership of Oluseye Opasanya, a senior advocate of Nigeria.
Airlines have been hard hit by Nigeria's currency crisis, with tickets paid in devalued naira but scarce foreign currency needed for fuel.
Arik is the biggest airline in West Africa and flies 55 percent of domestic flights in Nigeria as well as transcontinental routes to London and New York.
United Airlines and Iberia pulled out of Nigeria last year over the currency crisis, in which international airlines lost millions of dollars while the government blocked their remittances in foreign currency and the naira tumbled. Two other Nigerian airlines stopped operating last year.
