A heated exchange has ensued between the erstwhile minister of aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika and ex-chairman, house committee on aviation, Mr. Nnolim Nnaji as the former alleged the latter asked for a 5% stake in the embryonic Nigeria Air.
Sirika made the allegation during a live interview on Arise News yesterday.
Recall that Nnaji had described the Nigeria Air project as a “fraud” when the stakeholders appeared before his committee.
Responding to the fraud allegation, Sirika said Nnaji, who represents Nkanu East/West federal constituency asked for “5% of the airline and carry him along and his people.”
“On the issue of Hon 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.
“He asked me to please indulge him and give him 5% of the airline and carry him along and his people. What I told him in private is that it belonged to the owners and I believe they will still be willing to give him if he had the money.
“Let’s be fair, Hon Nnaji didn’t say other members. He said he wants it for himself and his people. His people could be his family, could be members and it could be leadership. I don’t know, but he insisted on 5%. I said that he should relax and approach the owners. That’s exactly what I told him,” he said.
He emphasised: “I record all my things. He asked that I should give him 5% of the Nigeria Air to carry him along with his people…I even told him that at some point even the five per cent held by the federal government will go to the market, so he should get his money ready and buy for him and his people.”
Reacting to the insinuation that he spent over N85 billion on the project airline project, Sirika said between 2015 and 2023 when he left government, N3 billion was released out of the N5 billion approved.
Sirika also said there was nothing secretive about Nigeria Air as its activities were made public before the unveiling.
“There is an allegation that the whole thing was shrouded in secrecy and that, I find mind boggling and disturbing. This airline we advertised during the procurement stage and there was a business conference and members of the airlines operations of Nigeria participated in this conference.
“The whole world knew that we were bidding and everyone bidded and even asked for extension of time. It was open. So, where is the secrecy?
“We held six stakeholders’ conferences and presented it to the public,” he added.
Commenting of the unveiling of the carrier against a court order, Sirika said there was an existing motion to vacate the court order restraining them from unveiling.
“I remember there was a court order and I also remember there was a motion to vacate the order immediately by our counsel. But I am not the court and I cannot determine here whether it is contempt of court or not, so I’ll leave that one to the court.”
Also reacting to the agitation over the unveiling of the national carrier on May 26 which was the last working day of the past administration, he said it was the choice of the owners as part of their marketing strategy.
Speaking on the concerns of the local airlines on tax holidays, the former aviation minister stated that Nigeria Air will operate within the same laws as every other airline.
“There is no tax break or holiday for Nigeria Air limited. They will operate within the same tax laws that everybody is operating. But they are going to be operating within a special economic zone we established and they will enjoy those taxes like every other person.”
Reacting to the allegation of demanding for a stake in the airline, Nnaji said Sirika was unhappy that he (Nnaji) had demanded transparency and due process in all matters relating to the aviation sector, especially the Nigeria Air project.
“Ordinarily l would not have bothered to reply to his allegations of my demand for 5 per cent 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,” he said in a statement.
