Reps Ask Airlines To Refund N4bn COVID-19 Fund

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives has given a one-week ultimatum to all private Airline operators  in the country to render justifiable evidence  before it on how they expended the N4 billion they collected from the federal government as COVID-19 intervention funds or refund the money to government coffers.

The committee chaired by Hon. Bamidele Salam (Osun-PDP) gave the directive at the weekend during the resumed investigative hearing on the alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 intervention funds by the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government and others who benefited from the funds

The committee resolved that all private airlines that received COVID-19 relief funds designated to support the aviation sector to refund the allocated funds to the federal government treasury in a week, if they fail to give justifiable evidence of how the money was spent.

The committee expressed displeasure that despite appearing before it, several of the airlines and industry stakeholders, including Aero Contractors, Azman, Newrest, and representatives from the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, failed to provide satisfactory explanations regarding the allocation and expenditure of the funds.

Azman Airlines represented by its marketing manager, Odum Chizoba Uju admitted receiving N367.9 million purportedly allocated for various operational expenses including aircraft maintenance; spare parts, fueling, Forex purchasing, and insurance premium paid.

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Also, the station manager of Aero Contractor,  Abdulmalik Musa said the company received N217. 3 million from the federal government for the Covid-19 intervention fund.

But in a sharp reaction to the  submissions on how the airlines utilised the funds, a member of the Committee and former pilot with the Nigeria Air Force, Hon. Ojuawo Adeniyi from Ekiti state faulted the submissions, saying the services claimed by the operators were applicable only during the regular operations of airlines.

Consequently, a motion was moved by a member, Hon. Akiba Bassey   that the amount involved should be refunded to the Federation account should the airlines fail to give justifiable evidence before the Committee on the expenditure and it was unanimously supported by members.