The last is yet to be heard about the Nigeria Air as the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has accused Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, of asking for a five per cent share in the national carrier.
He said when he appeared on ARISE TV, on Sunday, declaring that the lawmaker approached him and asked for the five per cent share of the airline for “him and his people”.
Honourable Nnaji had, during a hearing by the House, declared the launch of Nigeria Air as a fraud and also accused the Federal Government and Sirika of poor handling of the project.
He said his committee, after a careful evaluation of the project, was dissatisfied with the Federal Government and also condemned Ethiopian Airlines for its handling of Nigeria Air.
Nnaji had also said the process of procurring the aircraft for the national carrier was shrouded in secrecy and was capable of tarnishing the image of the country before the international community.
However, Sirika hit back at the lawmaker as he said: “On the issue of Honourable Nnaji who called Nigeria Air launch a fraud, I will respond now. I will say exactly what I told him in private when we spoke.
“Honourable Nnaji asked me that I should give him five per cent of Nigeria Air to carry him along with his people.
“I said to him at that time, ‘Honourable, a bidding process that has taken place, and some people won. So, I think you should go to those people and ask for the five per cent’.”
Prodded by the anchor of the programme, Dr Reuben Abati, the former minister said Nnaji did not specify if the five per cent bribe was meant for himself and other members of the House Committee on Aviation.
“Let’s be fair, Honourable Nnaji didn’t say other members. He said he wants it for himself and his people. His people could his be his family; could be members and it could be leadership.
“I don’t know, but he insisted on five per vent. I said that he should relax and approach the owners. That’s exactly what I told him,” Sirika added.
The former Minister of Aviation also revealed that the Federal Government only only N3 billion out of the N5 billion budgeted for the Nigeria Air project since 2018.
He further said the N3 billion had not been fully expended on the project before he left office on 29 May, 2023.
The former minister described as nothing but a mere imagination that the country had so far spent N85 billion on the controversial project.
“From 2016 to 2023, all of the money voted and budgeted for Nigeria Air is N5 billion. But all that was released was in the neighbourhood of N3 billion.
“It was not N85 billion, and not all of the N3 billion has been expended as of the time I left office.
“What has been done with the money is nothing but to get special advisory services, the Air Operator Certificates (AOC) processes, salaries, consultive services, and the maintenance of the office in Abuja.
“No contract was awarded by Hadi Sirika, these are the things the money was used for.
“And there is the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, people can apply and get all the information about what the money has been used for.
“The N85 billion being mentioned is only in the imagination of the people carrying it about,” Sirika stated.
He also revealed that Nigeria did not pay any money for the aircraft publicly displayed few days before the end of the tenure of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The former minister also admitted to another failure of the Nigeria Air project as he said the aircraft belonged to Ethiopian Airline and that it was brought to Nigeria to showcase its commitment to the project.
“The AOC, owned by Ethiopian Airline, is known to Nigeria and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
“They are permitted to come in either with scheduled passengers, chattered or cargo. They have to come in under one of the three. So, they came as chartered.
“Being chartered does not mean that anybody paid for anything. The [Nigerian] government did not pay a dime for that aircraft to come in.
“Secondly, there was no revenue passenger in the aircraft because that would have been totally against the law and wouldn’t have been allowed.
“It was their own marketing strategy as equity partners. They came to do this unveiling on a special allowance called chartered and it does not mean that we paid for it.
“If anybody was to pay for it, it would have been the Ethiopian Airline, not the Nigerian government. No penny was paid,” the former minister added.
