FG assures Swiss investors on proposed airline, automobile assembly plant

Clement Idoko, Abuja - 09.05.2008

The Federal Government has assured investors from Switzerland of its readiness to assist them in the establishment of an airline and automobile assembly plant in the country.

Minister of Transportation, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, gave the assurance when she received a delegation of Swiss Consortiums, under the auspices of Zurich 9, in her office in Abuja.

Leader of the delegation and President of Cercle Diplomatique, Geneva, Mr. Robert Blum, had told the minister that they were interested in investing in the relevant areas of the Federal Government’s seven-point agenda.

He disclosed that the Swiss Air planned to establish an airline in Nigeria and that they were also interested in reactivating the Leyland Automobile Assembly Plant in Nigeria with a view to manufacturing trucks and buses and run a transportation business.

Alison-Madueke told the delegation that there were areas in the aviation sub-sector that could benefit from the input of foreign investors, saying that “we are always interested in new incursions into the aviation sub-sector in the areas of domestic and international operations or management concessions.”

She urged the businessmen to discuss with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), under the supervision of the Minister of State for Aviation, to ascertain the parameters and regulatory framework for their entry into business transactions in the aviation sector in Nigeria.