In Ethiopia, the man who has been reported to be the father of African aviation , Girma Wake has resigned his position as Ethiopian Airlines board chairman .
No reasons have been given yet for his resignation as board of chairman of Ethiopian Airlines but it is suspected that it is in connection with the Nigeria Air saga.
According to a report, Girma Wake joined the Ethiopian Airlines board in 2018 and became board chairman in April 2022. Reports claim he was instrumental in making Ethiopian airline Africa’s largest carrier .
Recently, there have been concerns over controversies surrounding the acquisition of aircraft used to float the national carrier, Nigeria Air .
The former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika had contacted Ethiopian Airlines to provide an aircraft that would be presented to Nigerians as an aircraft belonging to Nigeria Air, to which Ethiopian Airline obliged by repainting and rebranding one of its Boeing 737-860 Max aircraft.
Sirika had claimed that billions of naira were spent in launching the purported Nigeria airline.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Compilation of Budgetary Allocations revealed that the Federal Government spent 85.42 billion Naira on transaction advisers, working capital and consultancy bills for Nigeria Air between 2016 and 2023.
