ARIK AIR CASE: USD 80 MILLION TO CRIMINALS AND NOT A DIME TO EMPLOYEES

Can one company become a 39-Cases Defaulter? As the situation with the Nigerian operator ARIK AIR shows - it can if lawlessness is carried out and patronized at the state level.

This is exactly the situation in Nigeria with ARIK AIR. Quite a lot has already been written about this story. The company had been racking up debts many years and in early 2017, it all came to a complete collapse. As a result, the company was placed under the management of the state-owned corporation AMCON, whose task was to restore regular flights of the airline and overall recovery of its operations.

Instead, the top management of ARIK AIR and the top management of AMCON entered into a criminal conspiracy to withdraw and embezzle the air carrier's money, which could have been used to pay the airline's debts. Criminal proceedings in this regard are still pending before the Lagos High Court (special offenses division). In total, the defendants are accused of fraud amounting to almost 80 million US dollars: NGN76 billion naira (USD47.8 million) and USD31.5 million.

All this time foreign specialists (pilots, dispatchers, ground staff) who worked in the airline and were not paid for 5-6 months and then dismissed one day, were waiting for justice to be restored. But 8 years have passed, and AMCON, which still “manages” ARIK AIR, besides recognizing the fact of wage debts, refuses to name any terms in which the unpaid wages can be paid.

And here there was an extremely important, I would say symptomatic episode that made me write this article. When 39 former employees of ARIK AIR (all of whom are aviation professionals from different countries) decided to go to a Nigerian court and demand their salaries through legal means, they were confronted with... What do you think? The court's refusal to register the complaint? No, the case didn't even make it to court! They were faced with the fact that the lawyers in Nigeria they approached to file the suit simply refused to defend their rights in court! They are afraid! Afraid to go against a state-owned company.

Faced with such fear and servility, former ARIK AIR employees decided to create cases in the Global Aviation Register of Defaulter companies BLACKLIST.AERO. Currently, five cases have already been created. However, the dynamics show that in the future all 39 people who previously joined together to file a lawsuit in court may create cases.

Isn't this the litmus test of how law enforcement and the rule of law in general is doing in Nigeria?! Lawyers who refuse to fulfill their direct duties. A state that intimidates everyone around it, yet allows fraud by, in fact, public servants. Fraud on a massive scale. Not surprisingly, some of these public officials and politicians in Nigeria end up owning luxury real estate in London, Dubai, buying business jets, and sometimes several at once. But this will be discussed in our next articles.

In this regard, I wish to address the main man in Nigeria on whom not only the state of affairs in Nigerian aviation, but generally all public policies, including the protection of workers' rights, as well as the protection of the rule of law in the country as a whole, depends:

Dear President of Nigeria BOLA AHMED ADEKUNLE TINUBU:

The BLACKLIST.AERO team has been trying for months now to communicate with the Head of Nigerian CAA CHRIS NAJOMO and Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development FESTUS KEYAMO in connection with a completely different case, regarding BAZE RESEARCH AND DATA SERVICES, LTD and its owner Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed. We have seen firsthand - how corrupt the safety oversight system in Nigeria is and how top Nigerian aviation officials gloss over fraud and cover up for fraudsters. We will cover this in detail in a separate article soon. Perhaps it will be useful for you to understand the situation and make the necessary personnel decisions.

But the ARIK AIR's situation is not just a problem in Nigerian Aviation. The problem with the payment of salaries of Arik Air's foreign workers started after the state, through AMCON, took control of the carrier. A state that is currently being epitomized by you - both domestically and internationally. Yes, I realize that the non-payment of salaries occurred before you won the presidential election. You did not create this problem. But I believe you are the one who can solve it now.

The situation of Nigerian lawyers being denied legal aid for fear of the state is a very worrying sign. Not for aviation - for the entire global community, for companies interested in the Nigerian market in a wide range of sectors. Disenfranchisement, the lack of the ability to fairly assert one's rights in court is a red flag for hired professionals, companies and multinationals alike.

I sincerely hope you care about Nigeria's image in the world. I have a lingering hope that you care whether foreign professionals in a wide range of fields, from aviation to oil production, will in future see Nigeria as a worthy professional prospect or a gray area. A country at high risk of being left without a paycheck and without the right to a fair trial. A country where fear and greed play a dominant role in the public mind.

I sincerely hope that you can prove in practice that this is not the case.

I sincerely hope...