The Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) has said that it has no plans to change name of Arik Air to Nigeria Eagle.
AMCON, which is Nigeria’s debt recovery agency, has been managing the airline in the past four years.
Arik, which used to be the largest in West and Central Africa, was taken over by AMCON in 2016 following indebtedness by its previous owners.
Since then there has been uncertainty over the fate of the airline even as the Managing Director of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru, recently suggested that it could be converted to a national carrier; a suggestion which the Aviation Minister, Senator Hadi Sirika, rejected.
AMCON, in a statement by its Head, Corporate Communications, Jude Nwauzor, noted that the corporation currently has more than five airlines in its aviation portfolio, saying the proposed entity has nothing to do with rebranding any of the airlines under it.
The statement reads: “Following its mandate, especially as it relates to the aviation sector of the Nigerian economy, it is public knowledge that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) had approached the aviation authorities in the country seeking a licence for an independent entity where all of its aviation assets would be transferred and efficiently managed in a synergistic manner.
“AMCON currently has more than five airlines in its aviation portfolio among other assets that are scattered all over. The proposed new entity therefore has nothing to do with the rebranding any of the airlines within its portfolio as being speculated in several online publications.
“The objective of AMCON’s intervention in the aviation sector is targeted at supporting the sector, given its importance, saving thousands of jobs, making the aviation sector a catalyst for the growth of the Nigerian economy and recovering the huge debt owed the corporation by these aviation entities.”