Outgoing Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Hon Nnolim Nnaji, on Sunday, denied the allegation leveled against him by the immediate past Minister of Aviation that he demanded five percent of the equity in the controversial Nigeria Air project.
Hon Nnaji, in response to the Nigerian Tribune inquiry on the allegation, however, urged the Minister to give an account of his stewardship, especially on the failed National Carrier – Nigeria Air project.
He said: “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.
“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 a core investor in NigeriaAir, 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,” he said.
According to him, the committee requested 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.
“Harika, at that meeting, said it (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.
“Of course, we suspended our discussions and inquiries on the project the moment the 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 to 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 Nigeria’s air transport sector.
“It is also common knowledge that the Nigerian institutional investors he mentioned as participants have all denied him.
“It is not strange that Sirika came up with this spurious allegation 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,” he said.
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Outgoing Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Hon Nnolim Nnaji, on Sunday, denied the allegation leveled against him by the immediate past Minister of Aviation that he demanded five percent of the equity in the controversial Nigeria Air project.
Hon Nnaji, in response to the Nigerian Tribune inquiry on the allegation, however, urged the Minister to give an account of his stewardship, especially on the failed National Carrier – Nigeria Air project.
He said: “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.
“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 a core investor in NigeriaAir, 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,” he said.
According to him, the committee requested 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.
“Harika, at that meeting, said it (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.
“Of course, we suspended our discussions and inquiries on the project the moment the 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 to 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 Nigeria’s air transport sector.
“It is also common knowledge that the Nigerian institutional investors he mentioned as participants have all denied him.
“It is not strange that Sirika came up with this spurious allegation 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,” he said.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
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