Reps summon Sirika, Keyamo over suspended Nigeria Air project

The house of representatives has summoned Hadi Sirika, former minister of aviation, over the suspended Nigeria Air project.

The former minister is expected to brief the lawmakers on the status of Nigeria Air before he left office.

Sirika is also to provide “insights on a wide range of controversies and allegations surrounding the project”.

The lower legislative chamber also invited Festus Keyamo, the current minister of aviation and aerospace development; Chris Najomo, acting director-general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); and local airlines operators. 

The NCAA is expected  to provide the legislators with the details of the Nigeria Air project as well as certifications issued.

The green chamber passed the resolution during the plenary session on Thursday after the adoption of a motion sponsored by Tarkighir Dickson, a lawmaker from Benue.

The Nigeria Air which is the national carrier was unveiled by Sirika about three days before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

While moving the motion during the plenary, Dickson claimed that Buhari’s government “spent billions of naira ostensibly to acquire the said new national carrier but the status of the project remains unclear regardless of billions of taxpayers’ funds utilised on the project”.

He said if the “negative trend is not investigated, it may lead to issues with accountability and continue to be a recurring expenditure item in the federal budget”.

The motion was passed when it was put to a voice vote by Benjamin Kalu, the deputy speaker of the house, who presided over the plenary.

The house subsequently asked the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and ministries of budget, national planning and finance to avail the committee on aviation with data and “financial resources” deployed on the national carrier project.

The committee will also carry out a “forensic audit of the process” of Nigeria Air and report its findings to the house within four weeks for further legislative action.

Controversy has surrounded the Nigeria Air project after it was hurriedly unveiled at the twilight of Buhari’s administration.

In an investigation in June, the house of representatives committee on aviation labelled the project as a fraud, calling on the federal government to suspend it.

The committee said it was “totally dissatisfied with the actions” of Sirika flagging off the operations of Nigeria Air “despite a standing court injunction” and without any provision for “sustaining the operations of the airline”.

In August when he assumed office, Keyamo suspended the national carrier project. 

In September, the minister said the national carrier was suspended because agencies raised red flags.