The Federal Government has concluded plans to pick  Ethiopian Airlines as a technical partner and core investor for the  proposed national carrier – Nigeria Air.

The unveiling of the technical partner / core investor to the new airline will be unveiled in the next few days, industry sources confirmed to The Nation.

To drive the partnership, sources hinted that discussions are ongoing between officials of the Ministry of Aviation and other government agencies involved in the deal.

Sources also hinted that designated officials had travelled to the Ethiopian capital , Addis Ababa, to put final seal to the arrangement.

An industry source familiar with the development said: ” “Yes, we have selected Ethiopian Airlines. We have agreed to work with the airline, and we are hoping to make the announcement soon.”

The source added that the ministry had started a training programme for the personnel of the planned national carrier at the Ethiopian Airlines facility in Addis Ababa.

“I heard the minister sent some pilots there some time ago for training. But it was ab-initio, training. They are also preparing for the training of pilots on Boeing 737 NG aircraft. Ethiopia will provide the technical management,” the source added.

The source further said that Ethiopian Airlines would provide equipment, technical personnel and management for the airline.

“Ethiopian Airlines has the equipment needed for the startup of the new national carrier, Nigeria Air. It has many Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, which would be the equipment that would be deployed with the additional deployment of a few Boeing B737 NG aircraft. The airline is most prepared to support the Nigerian government to actualise its national carrier ambition,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the Northeast Governors Forum yesterday said it’s dream of floating a regional  commercial airline, known as the North East Regional Air Shuttle Limited is nearing completion.

The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Umar Zulum, who disclosed this at the 7th meeting of the forum said the dream is coming to fruition as soon as a number of financial and technical requirements are met.

He said the North East Governors’ Forum since its establishment two years ago in

Gombe had become a formidable avenue for social cohesion and a rallying point for people in the Northeast to collectively discuss and identify common challenges and proffer pragmatic and viable ways and means of addressing the challenges.

“As we have comprehensively articulated in our earlier meetings, the most

prominent of these daunting challenges include insecurity, largely characterised by the Boko Haram insurgency, the issue of banditry and kidnapping, which unfortunately, is assuming a worrisome dimension, cattle rustling and other forms of criminality as well as endemic socio-economic issues like youth restiveness, massive unemployment and extreme poverty, among others.

“Equally, we have been able to classify and

analyse the best possible ways of dealing with the challenges in both the short and long term measures. As we have noted, time and again, the concomitant effects of insecurity in the Northeast region are widespread and pervasive. In general, the scale of insecurity in the region has displaced hundreds of thousands of our people and adversely affected their socio-economic live-wire, thereby subjecting them to a life of extreme poverty and deprivation,” he said.