The ‘Nigeria Air’ Scam

At the twilight of the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration, so many government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) were seen to be in a frenzied haste to launch projects of doubtful relevance to the economy. Most of these projects carry with them humongous amounts of money. Nigerians suspected that these may well be questionable apparently packaged as exit funds for their sponsors.

Some individuals in the government were inexplicably in a hurry to embark on these projects that ab  intio   were designed to add little or no value to the economy. Otherwise why wait till the very last minute.

One of these projects, in the opinion of this newspaper, is the much touted national carrier dubbed ‘Nigeria Air’. Nigerians watched in disbelief as the out -gone Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, took it upon himself to play on their intelligence. The Minister  practically turned the nation into a huge theater of the absurd when he procured an Ethiopian Aircraft and repainted it in the colors of Nigeria just to appear to have launched a national carrier for the country.  It is instructive that the management of Nigeria Air also admitted hiring the plane “just to unveil the logo.”

This newspaper had observed the obsession of the Buhari government to launch a national carrier. But it was equally worried that there was no determination to fulfil this dream. Having failed to reach an agreement as no serious investor took the government seriously, Sirika decided to fly in a Boeing 737-800 aircraft painted with the logo of ‘Nigeria Air’ and displayed it at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on May 26 for the so-called launch.

The fraudulent intent was soon detected as it later turned out that the aircraft had the registration number bearing Ethiopian initials and had since been returned to its original owners after the charade of May 26.

As the rhapsody   of the so- called launch ended amid protests, Nigerians soon discovered that a huge fraud might have been perpetrated by the government officials  in a deal that cost an alleged sum of N139 billion of taxpayers money. The intriguing aspect of the drama is that the minister who spearheaded the deal was alleged, also, to have violated the law and was at needless loggerheads with Aviation authorities in the country over the launch following his failure to abide by the rules governing airline operations and his disobedience to court orders that restrained him from launching the project.

We also  recall that since the conceptualization or rather the idea of reviving the dead Nigerian Airways gained traction, many citizens were eager to see the nation’s carrier back again with some fond memories of what it used to be. However, this enthusiasm petered out the moment the former minister and his team went to the Farnborough Air show in London to launch in 2018 an airline that did not yet exist.

It was in London that Sirika, then Minister of State For Transportation, exposed the lack of transparency in the scheme. In London, Sirika apart from presenting to would be investors the logos of aircrafts adorned in Nigerian colours, there was no proof of technical details of how the airline will operate, as there were no aircrafts on ground, and no provision made to suggest that any could be acquired as no aircraft manufacturing firm had entered into agreement with Nigeria to sell aircrafts to them.

As if this was not bad enough, the so-called airline did not even have a functional website and Sirika and his group failed to answer probing questions. That was when the world knew that there was nothing serious about Nigeria Air. It turned out that the former Minister and his team went on a jamboree that cost the nation over N3 billion by their own admittance. When this fraud was uncovered, Sirika quickly suspended the launch and waited for another time to perfect the scheme which culminated in the sham of May 26.

President Buhari’s government came into office on a mantra of aversion for corruption. Yet it looked the other way as his minister used scarce resources to disgrace the nation in London only to be rewarded with a bigger position as a full Minister where he was encouraged to do as he pleased not minding the implication for the image and integrity of the nation.

With this kind of scenario playing out at top government level, it is, then, no surprise  that Transparency International rated Nigeria as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, worse than the previous administrations in the country.

It is commendable that the House of Representatives has described Nigeria Air as a fraud and commenced investigation on it.  We encourage the lawmakers to ensure that all those involved in this scam regardless of their perceived status are brought to book to face severe sanctions. The House must also recover all the funds invested into this scam.  We cannot continue like this and expect the world to take us seriously.

It is our considered opinion that President Bola Tinubu owes himself a duty to do a thorough house cleansing to ensure that any proven sin against the state is commensurably punished. We are saddened that the immediate past administration left in its trail a catalogue of official misdemeanours deserving of exposure and punishment.