President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ordered the Ministry of Aviation to immediately start the process of securing the management of the Nigerian airspace over the Gulf of Guinea from Ghana. He also directed the ministry to look into the possibility of getting a national carrier for the country as soon as possible. The ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Binta Bello, told State House correspondents, that Buhari handed down the directives when she and her team briefed him of their activities at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Bello said Ghana had been maintaining the airspace over the Gulf of Guinea since 1945.

She said the President’s directive for the takeover by Nigeria came at a time when some other neighbouring countries were making moves to take over their own airspace too. “We have a directive by the President to start the process of securing the management of the Nigerian airspace over the Gulf of Guinea which Ghana has been maintaining since 1945 and there is a move on the ground by Togo and Republic of Benin to take over their own airspace from Ghana,” Bello said. She added that the President also raised concerns over the country’s inability to have a national carrier. To that end, Bello, said Buhari directed her ministry to look at the possibility of having a national carrier as soon as possible.