In furtherance of the cooperation between the Nigerian Defence Academy and Arik Air Nigeria Ltd, a team of the management of Arik Air paid a courtesy visit to the NDA to further explore and cement the corporate relationship that had existed between the two establishments.


Speaking on the purpose of the visit, the team leader and the Associate Vice President Corporate Sales and Marketing, Alhaji Hamzar Bukar stated that they came to discuss a partnership with NDA in terms of corporate relation by giving attention to the priority areas that will benefit the cadets and staff and other opportunities the Airline could offer, like inviting the cadets to their corporate office in Lagos to experience the Airline’s world class hangers and control rooms. He further stated Arik Air which has 28 most expensive passenger aircrafts in its fleet purchased directly from the manufacturers and flying over 120 lines, has all it takes to market its corporate relation to the NDA in particular and the Nigerian Armed Forces in general. He assured that Arik Air is capable of meeting the standard of the military. According to him, He assured that in order to maintain standard and inculcate confidence in the air travelling populace, Arik Air had decentralized its operations and maintenance for effective service delivery.



In his response, the Commandant NDA, Major General MT Ibrahim who expressed his happiness over the improvement in Arik Air said NDA is not an island and so needs an interface with other corporate bodies. He stressed that NDA is not only a military institution but a respected university that values associations and interventions as its corporate engagements. He urged Arik Air to search for areas of importance to interface with NDA especially in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and exchange programmes. He proposed a platform of understanding to make Arik Air the official carrier of the NDA.

 The Commandant adviced them to develop a positive attitude in order to maintain high standard. He commended Arik Air for remaining afloat despite aviation challenges and expressed confidence on the safety of the airline and the maturity of the pilots and other cabin crew members in discharging their duties. He promised that NDA is confident to partner with Arik Air. He however suggested that counterpart committee be set up to drive home the agreement reached on the necessary areas of partnership so that both parties will facilitate and act on the agreement speedily.



The deputy Commandant Air Vice Marshal CE Okoye, Principal Officers, Deans and Heads of schools also added their voices by suggesting best practices which will benefit the NDA, Arik Air and the air travelling populace. They said that in this era of insecurity all over the world, Arik Air could tap into the NDA security courses which they said are adjudged the best in Nigerian universities and parades the best professors, resource persons and experienced students who are captains and pilots. They encouraged them to take advantage of the NDA Post Graduate School and equip their staff with the best modern security courses urging them to tackle delay seriously especially the controllable delays as airline delay is not acceptable and could drive away their customers.

They commended the efforts and strive of Arik Air to be one of the best in the world.

                                                                                                Capt MA Yahaya
                                                                                                NDA PRO

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