Okonkwo resigns as United Airlines chairman to contest Anambra guber

• Commends Tinubu, Keyamo for transforming aviation sector

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

Business tycoon and accomplished entrepreneur, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has officially announced his resignation from United Nigeria Airlines Company Limited to enable him to concentrate on contesting and winning the forthcoming Anambra off-cycle governorship election.

Okonkwo will be contesting for the Anambra State governorship ticket on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after stepping aside from his role as chairman of the airline.

He announced his resignation at a press conference held in Abuja on Wednesday during the 2025 annual retreat organised for the member of staff of the airline as part of formal celebrations to mark the airline’s fourth anniversary.

The board chairman of several companies, including Solicom Engineering Limited and Rokada Security Company Limited, among others, while admitting that the airline faced some teething operational challenges initially, said that it has, however, been four years of success stories and near-perfect customer service.

Okonkwo equally applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the revitalisation of the aviation sector in the country, stressing that the foreign exchange policy introduced since the inception of the Tinubu-led administration has impacted positively on operators in the aviation sector.

Enumerating the teething challenges bedevilling the aviation sector, the Russian-trained political economist lamented issues such as access to foreign exchange and the trapped fund saga with foreign operators, which gave Nigeria a negative image in the comity of nations.

He expressed happiness that the Tinubu-led government has resolved the myriad of challenges since taking over the helm of affairs in the country, noting that operators no longer go through the previous nightmare of accessing foreign exchange from banks to offset bills and fulfil their obligations to their foreign partners.

Okonkwo also heaped praises on the Aviation Minister, Mr. Festus Keyamo, for putting in place measures aimed at protecting the interest of domestic operators in the country.

He expressed optimism that “Nigeria will get its fair share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) running into trillions of Naira, contributed by the industry across the world.”

While calling on the authorities to consider a single-window source of loans for the country’s aviation industry in tandem with global best practices, Okonkwo canvassed a three per cent interest rate for operators as against the 30 per cent charged by financial institutions in the country.

Announcing his resignation, he said: “Four years, precisely on February 12, United Airlines made the first landing in Nigeria’s airspace. But after the challenges, I will say that it has been four years of success stories, and we want to thank our customers and members of staff. This briefing is all about appreciation and to announce my decision to step down to concentrate on politics for the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election.”

“Recall that before we came into the system, we were having serious challenges of foreign exchange. We remember the trapped fund saga with the foreign operators, which was giving Nigeria a negative image and reputation.

“You recall our nightmare when we had to plead for foreign exchange from banks, and we would be given a forward allocation for two or three months that might end up being one year. It would surprise you to know that some of these forward allocations that were given two or three years ago haven’t been fulfilled up till today.

“That was the nightmare. We lost all reputation that we had with our partners overseas. You had the naira, but you were not able to meet the foreign exchange obligations. Today, the foreign exchange regime that was implemented by the current administration of President Tinubu has made impacts.

“Some of these nightmares are over. Now, we don’t have to wait for the banks to give us any date. If you have your naira, you are able to source your foreign exchange from the official window. This has made a whole lot of difference. Now, we can pay our bills and obligations. These are facts.

“As I have always said, aviation is defined in dollars. If you don’t have access to it, you haven’t started. So, this is one of the biggest gains. We thank him for appointing the Aviation Minister, who, on his own, decided to be on the side of local operators.

“For all his promises and pledges to us, we are very happy that he is complying. For us, we are looking forward to the future with a lot of excitement. We have witnessed in this administration the domestication of several conventions, the effort they have done to implement certain policies that are supposed to help lessors and give us access to equipment because, without equipment, we can’t float this industry.

“We have no doubt that if they continue in this direction, the aviation industry would achieve the $1 trillion economy that Mr. president is targeting. It is in the world that the aviation industry you have to equate it like a country. It’s about $17 trillion GDP all over the world . It might as well be a out the 15th richest countries of the world. It’s huge.

“The Nigerian portion of the cake is still very small. It’s small because the local operators in Nigeria have not been fully supported. We think that the way we are going, beyond access to finance, I still think that the government should consider low-interest sources of loans for the aviation industry.

“We don’t need grants; we don’t want the government to give us money. Aviation is one all over the world, and we are competing with other operators who have access to loans. If you have to go to the bank today, it should not be anything less than 30 per cent.

“The profit is very minimal. You can’t even survive with that. If this remains, it would continue to suppress our opportunity to maximise this beautiful policy of Mr. President in the aviation sector, championed by the Minister, Festus Keyamo,” he noted.