Former Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Hadi Sirika, has defended the suspended Nigeria Air project, insisting that it was a sound deal for the country and not the fraudulent scheme critics have alleged.
Speaking during a televised interview on Wednesday monitored by Okay.ng, Sirika said the project followed all regulatory procedures under the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and called on Nigerians to fact-check the process using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
“Nigeria Air is not a bad deal, and I read in the papers that we spent N100billion or thereabout, and it’s lost in the process, which is a lie,” he said. “The total budget for the national carrier was N5billion and the total amount released was N3billion. I left there with over a billion naira, and nearly a third of the N2billion that was spent went to consultancy for the Outline Business Case (OBC) and other requirements, while the rest covered staff salaries.”
Sirika dismissed accusations that the project was fraudulent and challenged those making such claims to produce evidence.
“There’s no fraud. If there’s fraud, by now they would have said otherwise. Nigerians should invoke the FOIA, go to the ministry of aviation and ICRC, get the documents and establish where the fraud is. It’s all a lie,” he said.
The former minister revealed that the project was stalled partly due to lawsuits filed by some local airlines.
“Some airlines went to court — AirPeace, United Nigeria and Azman — to say that we cannot as a government establish an airline where we’ll take a stake of five per cent. If there was no court case and if the government that came in had pursued it, by today, we would have the airline,” Sirika explained.
On the choice of Ethiopian Airlines as the technical partner, Sirika said their track record and capacity made them the best fit.
“Talking about Ethiopian, I did say 95 per cent of all African airlines operating within Africa are non-African. Ethiopian Airlines has consistently run a successful operation for many years. They came to partner with us so we could open up the world,” he said, adding that Nigeria needs a strong national carrier to reduce airfares and compete with global players.
Sirika concluded by reiterating that he intends to share a detailed account of his time in office in a forthcoming book.
“The day we will talk about Nigeria Air would come, and my book also would come. I am not a fraudulent person and I didn’t lead a fraudulent ministry,” he said.
