House of Reps summons civil servants to answer questions about national carrier Nigeria Air

MEMBERS of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation plan to proceed with their investigative hearing onto the controversial launch of the proposed national carrier Air Nigeria by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In April, the then aviation minister Hadi Sirika, assured Nigerians that Nigeria Air would commence operation before May 29 when the Buhari administration would hand over to President Bola Tinubu. Speaking at the National Aviation Stakeholders Forum 2023 in Abuja, the minister stated that the national carrier would commence local and international flights before May 29 when President Buhari is due to leave office.

However, aviation pundits argued that this may be another failed promise from Mr Sirika as it appears that the negotiations between the Nigerian government and a consortium of operators led by Ethiopian Airlines have not yielded any dividends. Nigeria Air was launched amid a lot of fanfare in 2018 at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK but the project has been dogged by controversies since it was launched, preventing its take-off.

With the project having failed to take off, the House committee had invited relevant stakeholders to the hearing earlier scheduled for yesterday in Abuja. However, representatives of most of the stakeholders had left the venue before the arrival of the committee’s chairman, Hon Nnolim Nnaji, who came about two hours behind schedule.

These stakeholders invited by the committee include civil servants from the ministries of aviation, foreign affairs and justice. Also invited were representatives of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and Ethiopian Airlines as well as aviation fuel suppliers.

President Buhari's administration failed to deliver Nigeria Air after eight years and the AON had consequently dragged the government and its agencies before a court to stop the process. Last  Friday, Nigeria took delivery of the first Nigeria Air plane, amidst protests from local operators that it was contrary to a court order, which barred the government from taking further action on the project.

As a result, the House has summoned the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele and other civil servants over the payment of N32.5bn to two companies GSCL Consulting and Biz Plus without formal records. In addition, the  House also summoned the managing directors of several oil companies, including Exxon Mobil and Nigeria Agip Oil to appear before it over petroleum deals in the country.

Speaking at the investigative hearing today, Hon Nnolim said the unveiling of the Nigeria Air was a fraud. His committee also passed a resolution asking the federal government to suspend the operations of Nigeria Air.