Lawmaker reacts after Sirika alleged he asked for ‘5% stake’ in Nigeria Air

Nnaji Nnolim, a federal lawmaker and former chairperson of the House of Representatives committee on Aviation has countered former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on claim of requesting a five percent equity in Nigeria Air.

Sirika made the allegation during an interview on Arise TV while trying to clarify the controversies that trailed the haphazard unveiling of Nigeria Air before the end of Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Reacting to the lawmaker’s claim of the launch of the national carrier being “fraudulent”, the former Minister said;

“He (Nnaji) asked to give him five percent of Nigeria Air to carry him along with his people, and I said to him at that time that honourable, this is a bidding process that has taken place, and some people won.” 

The federal lawmaker who has now reacted to the claim made by Sirika over Nigeria Air, stated that they are all lies and fabricated by a “drowning man”.

Nnaji who asked the former Minister to tell Nigerians the truth, noted that his committee was inundated with petitions from stakeholders after the announcement of Ethiopian Airlines as the core investor.

He also said that Sirika is not happy that he had demanded transparency and due process in all matters relating to the aviation sector, especially Nigeria Air project.

Nnaji said;

“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 noted that all enquires were suspended to avoid court contempt, adding that he also had an encounter with the former minister when there was a threat 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 operators certificate (AOC).

He added;

“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.”