The Assent Management corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has confirmed that the present government had no plans to convert Arik airlines to a national carrier, irrespective of its current critical condition.
The Managing Director Mr. Ahmed kuru, at a meeting with the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions in Abuja, put the total local debt of the ailing Arik Airline at the sum of =N=311 billion.
Mr. Kuru, also disclosed that the distressed airline has a record of foreign indebtedness to the tune of $81 million. Giving a breakdown of the local debts of the airline, he told the lawmakers that Arik was owing AMCON the sum of =N=146 billion while its debt to local banks amounted to =N=165 billion.
The MD, who made his submissions to the Committee on why the Corporation decided to take over Arik operations in the interim, said that the takeover was only going to be for a short period, to enable the new management put things right and stabilize the airline for effective operation.
He further told the Senate Committee that he was optimistic that the heavily indebted travel company would regain its lost glory within 30 days under the new management, noting however, that Arik was owing its staff salaries ranging between five and seven months.
According to him, Arik airline had staff strength of about 2000 workers.
The AMCON boss also stated that the airline had a total of 30 aircrafts on its hanger but expressed concern that only ten of them were operational at the moment while the rest were not in functional states.
Mr. Kuru pointed out that basic information was not available for AMCON to work with at Arik, saying that the situation made it difficult for the Corporation to access accounting and technological information about the establishment.
