…Invests N300m on non-violence courses
Air Peace Limited has announced a slash of airfares for Nigerian students in a bid to ease the financial burden of parents and ensure smooth journey to and from schools for their wards. Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema disclosed this when the Grand Patron of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Ubong King and leaders of the students body visited the corporate headquarters of Air Peace in Lagos recently.
“Air Peace will be flying all categories of students to school on resumption and out of school on vacation for a flat fare of N18,000,” said Onyema. “The airline was offering a fare much better than the 15 percent discount the students sought because of its belief in the youths’ capacity to transform the country,” he added.
Onyema also announced a package of over N300 million to train 52 executive members of the National Association Nigerian Students (NANS) in non-violence education in Nigeria and at Emory University in the United States. He urged NANS executive to regard the opportunity offered by the airline to train them in non-violence education with seriousness, saying they were expected to return to the country as non-violence experts to support the campaign for peace which he initiated through his not-for-profit organisation, the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN).
Said Onyema, “I like being in the midst of youths who are detribalised in their struggles. Let no one use you to foment trouble. In 2004 when there was militancy that greatly affected oil production in the country, I used FEHN to fight the crisis and a lot of the militants were transformed.”
“I have used FEHN to fight ethnicity in the country for many years. What gives me joy is broad nationalism and not ethnic and divisive nationalism. What we need in Nigeria is broad nationalism,” Onyema added.
Earlier, NANS Senate President, Comrade Salam Oyejide in his speech had commended Air Peace for distinguishing itself with top-notch flight services.
He said Air Peace had been endorsed as the official airline of Nigerian students, and had appealed to the carrier to grant students a 15 percent rebate on all fares, which the CEO later did.
The rebate, he said, would afford students the opportunity of enjoying the safe flight services of the airline.
‘FG should unlock aviation, tourism potentials for national prosperity’
Greater effort should be made by the Federal Government to attract investors that would assist in ongoing efforts to unlock the country’s aviation and tourism potentials for national growth and prosperity. The government should also take steps to create a synergy between the aviation, tourism and cultural industries as is now obtainable in most countries of the world. National Coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Mr. Ganiyu Adams who stated this in an interview at the Departure Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj, said the restructuring of the polity that allows the various federating to be grouped as regions would hasten efforts to harness the dormant potentials in the country for economic growth. Adams who cited the Asian and Middle East countries of Japan, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates as having used their aviation industry to draw visitors to earn foreign exchange in their culture and torusim industries said giving strength to regions with unique cultural and tourism potentials would spur them to effectively unlock such potentials for the growth and development of their citizens.
Adams also urged Nigerian to desist from painting their culture, customs, and traditions in bad light noting that the trend was inimical to ongoing efforts to harness the country’s tourism potentials for national growth and beat the recession.
“It is time government embarked on serious reforms that will create business friendly polices and environment at the ports, airports and other economic sectors,” said Adams “Government also needs to restructure the country such that every region could develop at its own pace.
“It is wrong for anybody irrespective of his religion to paint in bad light the tradition, customs and culture of his people,” said Adams.
“In Nigeria, we need to take a cue from some climes to use religion as a tool to promote our tradition and tourism. I am a Muslim, traveling to Saudi Arabia for Lesser hajj. But, even as a Muslim, that does not stop me from promoting the customs and tradition of our people. Religion should play a key role in the promotion of culture. The Islamic religion has helped to propagate the Arab culture , language and tradition,” he added.
