The former minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, “is a drowning man struggling to grab anything on his way to survive the barrage of attacks he has been receiving since his controversial unveiling ceremony of the so-called Nigeria Air,” according to the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji.
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) sued the Ministry and Nigeria Air in court and obtained an injunction to stop it, according to Nnaji, whose response comes in the wake of Sirika’s allegations. He claims that he had asked him for a 5% equity stake in the project.
The lawmaker added that he crossed Sirika’s path once more when he issued a statement against threats of mass resignations by key personnel of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as a result of pressure from the Ministry to grant waivers to Nigeria Air in order for it to obtain an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC). The lawmaker claimed that all inquiries were suspended to avoid court contempt.
Nnaji said in a statement that the former Minister was upset with him for calling for accountability and due process in all cases involving the aviation industry, particularly the Nigeria Air project.
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“Ordinarily l would not have bothered to reply to his allegations of my demand for 5 percent equity in Nigeria Air as he claimed during his interview on Arise Television but l believe l owe my constituents and indeed Nigerians a duty to put the records straight.
“It is on record that last year when the Minister announced Ethiopian Airlines as core investor in Nigeria Air, my committee which was also inundated with petitions from various stakeholders regarding that announcement invited the Minister and his team to furnish the committee with the details of the project.
“The committee requested for the evidence of the bid process that gave Ethiopian Airlines the award and, the full business case as prepared by the Nigerian Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, (ICRC) which was supposed to spell out the details of all the investors and their equity contributions.
“Sirika at that meeting said Full Business Case was still being worked out by the ICRC and promised to make it available to the committee as soon it was ready which he failed to do before Airline Operators of Nigeria, (AON) took the Ministry to court and got injunction restraining it from going ahead with the project.”, Nnaji said.
“Of course, we suspended our discussions and enquiries on the project the moment court got involved. Normally when a matter is before the court the parliament does not discuss it.
“However, on May 20th 2023, l received reports of threats of mass resignations by key personnel of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) due to pressures from the Ministry to give waivers to Nigeria Air to enable it secure Air Operator’s Certificate, (AOC) so that it could take Off before the exit of the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“I quickly issued a statement warning the former Minister against subverting the authority of NCAA because of its severe consequences on the Nigeria’s air transport sector. It is also a common knowledge that the Nigerian institutional investors he mentioned as participants have all denied him.
“It is not strange that Sirika came up with these spurious allegations against my person because l remained consistent in demanding that he followed due process.
“He should not deviate from the subject matter. Let him tell Nigerians the truth about the contraption he sold to us as Nigeria Air. Nnolim Nnaji is not his problem.”, Nnaji added.
