Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace, says President Bola Tinubu is not the root issue of Nigeria’s challenges, but rather his appointed officials.
Onyema conveyed that Tinubu has good intentions for the country, but his efforts are being hindered by government officials in his administration.
Speaking exclusively to Vanguard, Onyema highlighted the difficulties faced by his airline despite its substantial contributions to Nigerians and the economy.
He maintained that Tinubu has the capability to overcome the nation’s challenges, drawing parallels to his own experience when he served as the governor of Lagos amidst criticisms.
In his words:
“However, what happened to those after him? Do they pick calls? Do they even listen to you? The problem is not President Tinubu. He means well but he should look at his appointees,” Onyema said.
“It is the appointees of the government that cause problems, not the elected man. They block the elected man from seeing the truth about things.
“As far as I know President Tinubu, he means well for the country. When Tinubu came on board in 1999 as governor of Lagos, on the back of Brigadier General Buba Marwa’s successes, people were not patient because Marwa created a large shoe.
“For anyone to fit into those shoes, he had to outperform Marwa. When Tinubu came in, people were crying, just like it is happening now. But when he hit the road running, he outperformed whatever Marwa had done.
“Sincerely, I believe it is the same way now. He inherited something not so good and I believe he has that vision, goodwill and good intent to help this country. What he needs is the right people to work with. That is all.”
The Air Peace also said that local investments are what Nigeria needs to achieve a vibrant economy.
He said, “Like I always say, it is only indigenous investments that can protect this country. Foreign investments are good, but you also have to encourage indigenous investments to stabilize and succeed.
“Indigenous investments provide the real jobs and when the chips are down, they are the ones to save the country. When I talked, nobody wanted to listen to me, but I beat my chest and I am happy today. I am absolutely happy for what I have done for this nation in the last few days.
“Do you know the millions of dollars or billions of Naira Air Peace has single- handedly saved for this country by what we did? From N17 million, we brought a Business class flight to London down to N4 million. From N6 million we brought economy class flight down to N1.2 million and even afforded our students a further 15 per cent of the N1.2 million.”
