The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has summoned Hadi Sirika, the former minister of aviation. The anti-corruption group had also questioned Nigerian Air executives about the airline’s most recent Abuja launch. Even though the minister was supposed to appear before the commission later this week to address questions about the launch of the airline, Nigerian Air, flown under Ethiopian flags, it was discovered that the committee had already questioned a number of alleged representatives of the national carrier. The existence of an ongoing investigation was verified by EFCC spokesman Wilson Uwujaren.
According to THISDAY Newspaper, the commission would examine the N3 billion invested in the project, notwithstanding the claims of some stakeholders that more than N80 billion had been spent. In the last months of President Buhari’s term, the minister faked Nigerian Air’s alleged launch in Abuja by utilizing an Ethiopian plane. The packaging of an Ethiopian airplane that arrived in Nigeria wearing Ethiopian flags infuriated stakeholders. In a recent interview with Arise TV, the minister said that the Ethiopian plane’s arrival in Abuja was “a marketing strategy.”
“I can confirm that there is an ongoing investigation in that regard,” he said.
“We have already questioned some officials of Nigerian Air.”
“We have invited the former Aviation Minister,” Hadi Sirika.
“We are expecting him within the week”, the source said.
In a five-phase process to receive an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) to operate as a commercial airline, the airline is still in the first step, according to information released by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) last week. The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had continuously opposed the notion for a number of reasons.
Recently, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was cautioned by AON’s spokesman, Obiora Okonkwo, not to be “blackmailed into accepting a contraption that would definitely and ultimately hurt the Nigerian economy and destroy millions of existing jobs for the benefit of one or two individuals.”
