Reps invite Sirika, Keyamo for questioning over Air Nigeria

The House of Representatives, on Thursday, invited Hadi Sirika, the immediate past Minister of Aviation, for questioning over the controversial national air carrier, Air Nigeria.

The House also resolved to invite the current Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo to brief the House Committee on Aviation on development on the national carrier.

The House took the decision after considering a motion sponsored by Tarkighir Dickson on the floor of the House at Thursday’s plenary.

The lawmakers noted that in 2016, the former aviation minister proposed an aviation roadmap with national carrier as the signature project, aiming to deliver it to Nigerians by the end of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

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Dickson said: “The House is aware that the last administration 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.”

The House, therefore, resolved to invite Sirika to brief the Committee on Aviation on the status of the project at the point he handed it over and to “provide insights on a wide range of controversies and allegations surrounding the project.”

Furthermore, the House, “worried that 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.”

It also resolved to “invite the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, to brief the Committee on Aviation about the national carrier project.”

It further invited eight local airlines and their associations to afford the House a full overview of the project just as it mandated its Committee on Aviation to “carry out a forensic audit of the process of Nigeria Air and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.”

Ripples Nigeria recalls that the Nigeria Air project had been in controversies, with an Ethiopian Air aircraft painted in the colours of the planned Nigeria Air brought into the country to signify the commencement of the national carrier.

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