DEBT-ridden Nigeria Airways has started to settle its “critical” foreign debts ahead of its privatisation, the minister of aviation, Kema Chikwe announced. “We will ensure that that the airline is not privatised as a scrap and this explains why we are strengthening its asset base prior to privatisation,” he said. Recently, the national carrier also settled its outstanding debt of more than $740 000 to Boeing Corporation of USA, Chikwe said. Some foreign airlines and aviation companies such as Virgin Airlines and Jefferson Group have expressed interest in Nigeria Airways. Run down by corruption and mismanagement, it has had 12 chief executives in the past 18 years, and of its more than 26 planes in 1983, it currently has only three operational aircraft. – AFP