The immediate past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says the chartered Ethiopian Airlines used to unveil the country’s national carrier, was a decision directly informed by major shareholders and marketers of the Nigeria Air project, not influenced by the federal government.
Sirika made the disclosure when responding to questions during an interview session on Arise TV on Sunday
According to him, “The unveiling in Abuja, this was done by the government, and then the purpose of going to Farnborough was not just in vain, but to take advantage of it and to discuss with OEMs and discuss with would be partners and do a roadshow.
“But, coming back home now, when Nigeria had its own shareholders the bid was done, the bid was won by some people in their marketing strategy who decided to unveil this airline to come into Nigeria and showcase where it will be pending when the AOC has been completed and they begin to fly.
“So, the strategy that they did marketing, is their own, is for the owners, is for Ethiopian airline, MRS, ET and whoever they are.
“The AOC owned by Ethiopian airline is known to the general laws and the NCAA, they are permitted to come in as either scheduled passenger, charter or cargo.
“Now, they have to come if they are coming under one of the three. So, the came on charter. That does not mean that anybody paid for anything, to answer your question, government did not pay a dime for that to come in,” Sirika said.
He noted: ” Number two, there are no revenue passengers going out. That would have been totally against the law and would have not been allowed and like I said, also is their own market strategy as partners, Equity Partners.
“They came to do this unveiling on a special allowance, which is called charter. It does not mean that they paid for it. If there’s anybody who would have paid for it, it would have been the Ethiopian Airline and not the Nigerian government at all.
“No penny was paid. I heard figures like N139 billion was used to pay for the aircraft and bring it in, how ridiculous can that be?”
Contrary to media reports that N85 billion was purportedly spent on Nigeria Air, the former minister said that the budgetary allocation voted for Nigeria Air was N5 billion, but less than N3 billion had been expended so far.
He also said the bulk of the money was spent on consultancies, salaries, administrative costs, among others.
His words; “So, in 2016 to 2023, all of the monies voted for national carriers was N5 billion. But, all that was released is in the neighborhood of 3 billion, not N85 billion and that N3 billion has not been expended as at the time I left office.
“And what has been done with that money is nothing but transaction advisory services, the AOC processes, salaries, Consultancy Services and the office in Abuja. No contract was given by Hadi Sirika or the administration at the time, these are the things that were used for the money and the Freedom of Information Act, people can apply and get all the records”, he said.