Nigeria takes controls of Arik Air to stabilise it ahead of sale

Nigeria's "bad bank" said on Thursday it had taken over the day-to-day running of Arik Air in an attempt to rescue the country's largest airline, which it placed in receivership last week after it was unable to pay workers or creditors. Michael Arumemi-Ikhide, the founder of Arik Air, has said the government seized the airline to meet a political goal of creating a "national carrier" and told Reuters he would challenge the move in court. Arik Air, which controls around 55% of the domestic market and is West Africa's biggest airline by passenger numbers, has been hard hit by Nigeria's currency crisis as its customers has to pay for fuel in dollars not naira. Arik owes AMCON, Nigeria's bad bank, around 147b naira and another 165b naira to four commercial lenders, AMCON's CE, Ahmed Kuru said in a presentation to lawmakers on Wednesday following the takeover.<br/>