Why it is on record
The flagship national-carrier-revival project of the Buhari administration; an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 in Nigeria Air livery was unveiled at Abuja on 26 May 2023, four days before Buhari's exit. The aircraft turned out to be a leased ET asset; Air Peace and other local carriers sued. The Tinubu administration suspended the project in September 2023.
Record held
Largest national-carrier announcement-without-launch in Nigerian aviation history.
Deep dive
Nigeria Air is recorded as a saga rather than an airline. Announced by Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika in July 2018 at the Farnborough Air Show, the project was suspended in September 2018, revived in 2022 with a partnership with Ethiopian Airlines, briefly demonstrated with a single Ethiopian-painted aircraft at Abuja on 26 May 2023 (three days before the Buhari handover), and abandoned by the Tinubu administration. The House of Representatives Aviation Committee report and the EFCC investigation of Sirika and Sirika Aviation Services are now the principal continuing record of the project.
Accountability
House of Representatives ad-hoc committee report (2024) found the unveiling 'a fraud'; the AGF investigation is ongoing.