L-R NFF President, Amaju Pinnick and the Chairman, Air Peace Barr. Allen Onyema after signing the deal.
Airpeace has entered into a four year partnership deal with the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) to fly Nigeria’s National Team, the Super Eagles.
The partnership deal is worth N300 million for four years and renewable after the first year.
At the signing of the partnership in Lagos, Chairman Air Peace, Barr. Allen Onyema said, it was a unique opportunity to be associated with members of the Super Eagles, who are superstars and Nigeria’s ambassadors in the world of sports, adding that, the airline was excited about this.
He described the Super Eagles as the Super Stars of Nigeria and that, he was very proud of them and urged them to trash Cape Verde in their encounter soon with them in the forthcoming football tournament.
The Air Peace boss said that, Airpeace would roll out its brand new airplanes straight from the factory to fly the National Team to wherever they are going to play, adding that, sports had become a unifying factor in Nigeria.
Explaining the reason why Airpeace decided to partner the NFF, Onyema said, it was to restore hope to Nigeria, saying that people are losing hope and the hope needed to be restored and to this end, Nigerians must support everything that would give hope to Nigerians.
” We need to support sports to restore hope to Nigerians.We are excited about this partnership because we are a nationalistic organization that believes in Nigeria. We are going to roll out our brand new aircraft out of the factory to undertake the assignment.We have got the capacity and we thank the NFF for believing in Air Peace.”
He emphasized that, despite the ethnic and religious divisions in the country sports was among the activities that reignites hope in the country, adding that, the carrier had been involved in sports sponsorship.
“Air Peace is proud of this country and we will do everything possible to support the NFF, we hope the Super Eagles qualify for Qatar 2022, we will support you all the way. We are looking for local clubs to support too, we want to bring back the joys of those days, I also call on investors to invest their CSR in some of the clubs”.
In his remarks, the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick said, the partnership had a N200 million cash component, while the N100 million would be spread out in kind.
“The deal is fund-based, it will be ploughed back to the players, it is a huge impact on them. The deal is worth N300 million and cash component is N200 million”.
He said the airline was chosen because of its pedigree in fleet size, nationalistic fervour and operational capacity in transporting Nigerians and other nationals across the globe.
Describing the deal as historic, Pinnick said the NFF said it is associated with Air Peace because it had become an indigenous brand synonymous with unity, humanity and nationalism.
He said the carrier had demonstrated a good safety record and its commitment to serve the country in times of need.
Citing the role the carrier played in the evacuation Nigerians stranded during the Xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
He stressed that, they did not need to look far in choosing an airline but a carrier that had demonstrated capacity to bail Nigeria and Nigerians out of the woods.
“With the two brands – Air Peace and NFF coming together this partnership will protect and project the national team. This is the beginning of breaking new grounds for sports in Nigeria”.
“The Air Peace brand is not just a growing brand but a strong and super brand, we will protect and project whatever we sign here today, we are grateful to the airline for the support, it is all about the unity of Nigeria”.
Present at the signing of the partnership deal were four Super Eagles players, Alex Iwobi, Tyron Ebuehi, Oghenekero Etebo and Joe Eribo. Others are staff of Airpeace, members of the Nigeria’s supporters club led by their its President.
