The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposal to revive the defunct Nigeria Airways and Air Nigeria, describing them as dead entities that could not be revived.
Instead, the upper chamber asked the Federal Government to work toward setting up a new, viable national carrier, while also pushing for direct flights between Nigeria and China.
The resolutions followed a motion on enforcing the Bilateral Air Services Agreement between Nigeria and China, sponsored by the Senate Chief Whip, Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno North).
The Senate urged the government to renegotiate and enforce the agreement to give Nigerian airlines reciprocal access to Chinese airports.
It also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to engage Chinese authorities on easing business visas for Nigerian traders and securing landing slots for Nigerian carriers.
The committees on Aviation and Foreign Affairs were directed to monitor compliance and report back within four weeks.
The debate took a different turn when Senator Ned Nwoko (APC, Delta North) proposed an additional prayer to revive the defunct national airline.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, rejected the idea.
“We can’t revive what is already dead. Did Nigerian Airways ever work?” he asked.
Akpabio noted that the country once owned close to 40 aircraft, lamenting that today it could not even provide planes for hire during campaigns.
He also warned that if Nigerian airlines continued to be denied direct access to China, the country might have to review the privileges enjoyed by Chinese carriers.
The Nigeria Air project, unveiled in May 2023, was followed by allegations that the aircraft shown was an Ethiopian Airlines plane hired for 72 hours.
Leading the debate, Monguno said the air agreement, signed under the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, was meant to establish scheduled direct flights between both countries.
He noted that bilateral trade hit $18bn in the first half of 2025, a 35 per cent rise compared to the previous year, and that over one million Nigerians live in China while about five million Chinese reside in Nigeria.
The senator said direct flights would reduce travel time, speed up supply chains, curb foreign exchange outflow, boost airport revenues and promote non-oil exports, while positioning Lagos and Abuja as the gateway between West and Central Africa and East Asia.
He urged the aviation ministry, the NCAA, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Customs Service to deploy policy tools such as reciprocity, code-sharing and naira-yuan settlement under the existing currency swap deal to enforce the agreement.
In his contribution, Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) said Nigeria was not getting value commensurate with its relationship with China, despite China’s rising economic influence.
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