It will be recalled the shocking revelations that came from the investigation regarding how some notable Nigerians who passed through the airline or had one or two things to do with the airline perpetrated high rated fraud against it as a government enterprise.
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Following the investigations and findings by the commission, another committee was set up to make recommendations to the then government for the purpose of recovering the looted funds running to $2.6 billion then from those indicted.
It is on record that the former national carrier which was a source of pride to Nigerians, gradually lost its position in view of bad conducts ranging from mismanagement, corrupt practices by some officials of the airline with the collusion of many government officials, the hijack of the airline’s management by the various government officials who turned the airline to family business where government officials were ordering an already scheduled flight to offload passengers onboard from the aircraft for the purpose of flying them and their family members to any part of the world.
It is also on record that all these contributed immensely to the woes of the airline which was the major reason the Obasanjo government decided to set up the Justice Nwazota led judicial commission to investigate the management of the former national carrier between 1983 and 1999.
At the the end of the 12 months investigation carried out by the commission, a white draft committee set up to look into the report and recommendations, noted that the identification of “the dramatis personae in the Nigeria Airways saga and in line with the anti corruption stance of the then Obasanjo administration will ensure that appropriate sanctions are applied to any individual or group of individuals that might have through acts of commission or omission contributed to the Nigeria Airways debacle.
“That the various channels suggested by the Commission through which looted funds from NAL can be recovered will be explored as well as others in ensuring that public funds looted or misappropriated from NAL are recovered.”
The then Federal Government had thereafter accepted the recommendations of the commission for more than $2.6 billion discovered to have been looted by those indicted including prominent Nigerians to be recovered from the looters.
The recommendations which were received with great expectations in the sector then was however cut short when the same government that set up the commission announced that it could not prosecute the culprits because they were ‘role models’ in the society.
Sadly, those indicted were allowed to go and enjoy their loot while the airline was controversially liquidated, The height of the injustice is that while those behind the ruins of the former airline were treated like ‘kings’, its former workers were made to pay dearly for the sins of the dramatis personae as witnessed in the agony they were subjected to until the present government agreed to pay them their final entitlement.
Up till now, no cogent reason was given as to why those indicted were neither prosecuted nor made to return the looted funds to serve as precedence to other people who have access to public funds.
It was therefore cheering to hear that the Buhari government has taken interest in knowing what went wrong with the former airline. It is at this juncture that the Crucial Moment is joining other stakeholders in the sector to urge the government to revisit the Justice Nwazota panel report and bring those culpable to justice.
The argument that those indicted were role models is laughable as this cannot happen in a sane clime for those indicted for fraud to be given preferential treatment.
Sixteen years may long but because it’s never late than never, the decision to revisit the Nwazota panel report is a welcome development which many Nigerians particularly the former airline workers are earnestly yearning for.
Since the former workers have been punished for the misfortune of the former national carrier as seen in the withholding of their entitlements for years, it will amount to injustice and double standard if those who contributed to the demise of the airline through fraudulent practices are left untouched under the guise that they are role models.
and then