Tag: Onyema

The Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace Limited, Dr Allen Onyema, has lauded the state-of-the-art facilities and operational efficiency of the Ekiti State Agro Allied International Cargo Airport, describing it as one of the best in the world.

Onyema, who landed at the airport on Saturday at about 10 am in a Boeing 737, (120 capacity) aircraft, commended the airport’s apron, runway, and terminal building, describing them as “highly functional and aesthetically pleasing”.

Read Also: ADUN Lagos lines up activities for Awka Day celebrations

Speaking with journalists shortly after landing at the airport, the Air Peace Boss noted that the facility’s readiness for international and domestic flights positions it as a critical infrastructure for the economic and social development of the state and the country at large.

Emphasizing the potential of the airport, which according to him makes it a strong contender for major aviation activities in Nigeria, Dr Onyema said it is equipped to accommodate even larger aircraft such as Boeing 777.

While assuring the state of his readiness to partner with the airport as soon as it commences commercial operations, Onyeama expressed optimism that the airport would soon serve as a hub for pilgrims and travelers in the country.

The Army has instituted a probe into the circumstances that surrounded the presence of its personnel at the Banex plaza and the attack that ensued.

It said the investigation was aimed at ensuring the security of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and to prevent “such unwarranted attacks on own personnel.”

Army’s spokesperson, Maj.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, announced this in a statement on Tuesday, May 21.

The Nation reports that some soldiers and traders on Sunday engaged themselves in physical combat at the popular Banex Plaza in Abuja over sales of phones. The situation led to closure of the plaza by security agents to forstore law and order.

Gen. Nwachukwu said: “the soldiers that attacked were “unarmed, and did not engage in any form of aggression, and posed no threat to anyone, therefore, the cruel treatment meted out to them was entirely unwarranted and unjustifiable.” 

Read Also: Military, police take control of Banex Plaza after clash in Abuja

“ A swift intervention by soldiers and policemen on internal security duties salvaged the situation and rescued the attacked personnel from being lynched by the hoodlums.

“In response to this unfortunate incident, a meeting was convened with the management of Banex Plaza to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous act by temporarily shutting down activities in the plaza to ensure that the hoodlums who have been using the Banex neighborhood as a sanctuary to pose a security threat to the Federal Capital Territory were apprehended.

“This, is in furtherance of the need for extensive investigation to be conducted at the scene to determine both the immediate and underlying causes of this mayhem.

“ This investigation ultimately aims at ensuring the security of the Federal Capital Territory and to prevent such unwarranted attacks on own personnel and other security operatives, as has been observed in other areas, such as the unfortunate attack in Okuama.”

The army spokesperson said such acts of violence against personnel were not only condemnable, but could degenerate to a breakdown of law and order, orchestrating threats to national security.

He urged the public to “exercise caution and restraint in dealing with military personnel and other security operatives, especially when they are in uniform,” as there are “established channels through which grievances or misconduct by personnel could be reported to the appropriate authorities.”

• By Abdullahi Tanko

There is a strong belief among business leaders around the globe that businesses should no longer be about just making money. Every business should care deeply about society. This is why we frequently now hear of corporate social responsibility. Businesses are these days greatly concerned about social issues like inequality in society, poverty, primitive diseases, environmental protection, discrimination against women and minorities, and the entire gamut of social justice. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and David M. Rubenstein are among those involved in the Giving Pledge, some of the world’s richest men who have resolved to give much of their wealth to charity or worthy social causes.

Nigeria’s Allen Onyema, founder and chairman of Air Peace, is easily Nigeria’s version of these globally known entrepreneurs because of his commitment to the common good. The Lagos-London flights which his Air Peace started on Saturday, March 30, 2024, bear an eloquent testimony to his passion for the public good. No sooner had he started the lucrative routes than foreign airlines in Nigeria announced drastic reductions in their fares. The foreign carriers, however, cleverly attributed the cutbacks to the Central Bank’s clearance of a backlog of $7bn owed them and the recent marginal gain in naira value. Interestingly, a section of the Nigerian media fell into their mind game and carried their propaganda without proper analysis. But that’s a story for another day. 

As Tunde MacAlabi, the founder of the Africa International Investment and Trade Exhibition and Fair noted a few days ago, British Airways now charges N1.25m for a one-way ticket to London, and no longer N3.5m, as was the case a few weeks ago – even during the winter which is normally a low season. KLM has come down from $1,500 a few weeks ago to $641 for a trip from Lagos to Amsterdam. Turkish Airlines now accepts N1.76m instead of N5m, to fly a passenger from Lagos to Istanbul. The list goes on. The good news is that the slashes are on average about 50 percent, and the reductions may continue in the foreseeable future. All this is because Nigeria’s Air Peace is charging a mere N1.2m for the busy Lagos-London route.

The Air Peace chairman, noted MacAlabi, could have gone into a deal with foreign airlines to keep the Lagos-London fare high because of its enormous lucrativeness, but the patriot in him would not have allowed it. Onyema used his planes in 2020 amid the COVID pandemic, when most airlines in the world were in a total mess, to lift Nigerians who were under the sustained barrage of xenophobic violence in South Africa back to the country free of charge. He lifted 286 persons home on May 29, and 301 others the next day. He also brought home distressed Nigerians from war-torn Ukraine and Sudan free of charge in 2022 and 2023, respectively. He has supported the Nigerian national football team without looking back. All this without regard to tribal, sectional, regional, religious and gender differences.

Against this backdrop, Nigerians are touched deeply anytime Onyema says that his reason for setting up Air Peace was not to make money but to serve the tremendous social purpose of providing jobs for Nigerians and creating business opportunities where they could serve as suppliers and consultants. I have attended two such meetings in Abuja in the last two years. Indeed, it was his late father, as he revealed, who made him set up Air Peace in 2012, and the following year it commenced commercial operations. It is today Nigeria’s largest air carrier, with 38 planes. It began when Onyema’s father asked him to employ teeming kinsmen and others flooding the house for financial assistance. He took to the airline business because he already had a private jet and acquired some aircraft management experience.

Read Also: Buratai lauds Onyema on Air Peace’s inaugural flight to London

It is logical to hold up Allen Onyema as a quintessential Nigerian practitioner of shared prosperity, the concept that everyone in society should benefit from prosperity. The idea that a business should exist purely for the shareholders is now discredited. Shareholder capitalism which the likes of Milton advocated fiercely has fallen out of favour because it has created or worsened many problems in the world like the phenomenon of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

In place of shareholder capitalism, there is now stakeholder capitalism. Stakeholders in a business are not just the investors but also the workers, the suppliers, distributors, the host community, the government, and even non-government organizations (NGOs). Among the top persons who have embraced this new thinking is Klaus Schwab, the German engineer, economist, and founder of the famous World Economic Forum whose annual meetings in January in Davos, Switzerland, are attended by thousands of top government leaders, writers, business leaders and thought leaders around the globe.

It is delightful that there are Nigerian entrepreneurs who subscribe to shared prosperity. Onyema stands out even among his peers. The new Lagos-London operations by Air Peace mean more aircraft for the airline, more direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians and, of course, more prosperity for our people. To repeat the obvious, the Lagos-London flights have resulted in radical reductions in fares for Nigerian travellers. The cuts mean more savings for the people and more investments in their well-being and their businesses. The Air Peace founder truly runs a business with a soul.

• Malam Abdullahi, a retired director in the federal public service, lives in Abuja.