Professor of Strategy, Anthony Kila has called for a public enquiry into the whole Nigeria Air fiasco and has advised the new federal government to institute an independent public inquiry charged to examine and make public the conception, process negotiations, partnerships, expenses and parties involved the Nigeria Air project.
This is just as an anti-corruption group, SecureWorld and Liberty Initiative for Peace (SELIP), has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) calling for the probe of former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, alleging that he has used the establishment of a national carrier, Nigeria Air, to perpetrate fraud and commit economic sabotage.
Professor Kila and SELIP wrote separate statements, one to the media and the latter addressed to EFCC calling for probes .
In the statement to our reporter by Professor Kila, the renowned scholar noted that the “Nigeria Air project has generated too much controversy and has now become a source of public concern rather than the laudable achievement it was planned to be due to the way it has been handled so far with stakeholders alleging a series of malpractices and calling attention to an unrespected court pronouncementâ€.
According to the Kila, “The best institutional response to give in this circumstance is for the government to create an independent and authoritative public inquiry that will allow all those who have issues and questions about the Nigeria Air project to table their concerns, give those involved in the project to respond without fear or intimidation and for all interested Nigerians to know what really happened and what to expect from the projectâ€.
Prof Kila also urged operators and other stakeholders in the aviation and related sectors to find ways of organizing themselves into a visible force that will ask the new government to shed light on the Nigeria Air project.
Such action according to Kila will be a national duty for experts and stakeholders as well as a test for the new government as a request for an independent and authoritative public inquiry into a sensitive and important project like this one will give many hopeful and neutral observers an informed insight into how the new administration wants to treat experts and stakeholders in aviation and other sectors.
Meanwhile, SELIP in its petition addressed to the EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, signed by its Executive Director Comrade Mark Adebayo,requested the EFCC to probe the former minister for undertaking ventures designed to benefit a few individuals and lead to the eventual collapse of aviation, a critical sector of the Nigerian economy.
The group also charged the EFCC to probe the 3% of the total shares allocated to Fairfax Ltd which was appointed as the Transaction Adviser to the project.
It noted with dismay the unveiling of an aircraft on Friday in Abuja purportedly belonging to Nigeria Air, despite an existing court order restraining the minister from taking any action regarding the project.
The group alleged that in a desperate bid to hoodwink President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and the generality of Nigerians, the minister imported a re-painted aircraft owned by Ethiopian Airlines and passed it off as the first aircraft belonging to Nigeria Air.
The petition read,“We are compelled to bring to your attention that the aircraft purportedly unveiled on Friday, May 26, 2023, by Minister Sirika, as the first flight of the national carrier, Nigeria Air, is still in active service of Ethiopia Airlines. We can confirm that the aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 with the registration number ET-APL, has since left the country this weekend for Turkey according to a check on the flight radar; it only transited Nigeria for the farce of a show put up by the minister.
“The flight landing in the country with Ethiopia Airlines’ registration number means Nigeria Air has no Air Operator Certificate. No aircraft can be registered in Nigeria without the carrier having an AOC which means that the aircraft does not belong to Nigeria Air either as leased or owned equipment. So, Sirika should not be allowed to fool Nigerians.”
The group urged the anti-graft agency to make Sirika account for a whopping N15.9 billion that has been committed so far to the project by the federal government, alleging that the desperation by the minister is geared towards covering up the misappropriation of funds and monumental fraud.
“The unveiling was a desperate attempt to justify the N15.9 billion appropriated by the federal government to Nigeria Air since 2016. The phantom project has continued to lick up budgetary provisions; N1.3 billion was allotted to it in the 2023 budget with an additional N700 million as ‘working capital’ and N200 million as consultancy fee; so, the minister must not be allowed to hoodwink Nigerians with the ‘importation of a rented aircraft into the country and pass it off as a step to the commencement of the operation of the airline days to his exit from office. This act of fraud and economic terrorism must not be allowed to go unpunished,†the petition read