Reps Summon Keyamo, Sirika, Others Over National Air Carrier Project

The House of Representatives has invited the Minister, Festus Keyamo and former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika to brief the Committee on Aviation about the National Carrier Project; the status of the project at the point it was handed over and provide insights on a wide range of controversies and allegations surrounding the project.

The House also invited the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to brief the Committee about the Nigeria Air Carrier Project and its certifications as applied to the National Air Carrier; and the eight local airlines and their associations to afford the House a full overview of the project.

These resolutions followed the adoption of a motion moved by Dickson Tarkighir (APC, Benue) at plenary on Thursday.

Moving the motion, Tarkighir noted that in 2016, Sirika proposed an aviation roadmap with national carrier as the signature project, aiming to deliver it to Nigerians by the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

He said the former Minister approached Ethiopian Airlines a few days before the handover, to provide an aircraft that could be made available to Nigerians as an aircraft belonging to Nigeria Air and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority NCAA had issued an Air Transport License to Nigeria Air, that was the name for the proposed National Carrier.

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“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 utilized on the project.

“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,” he stated.

Adopting the motion, the House mandated the Committees supervising aviation to carry out a forensic audit of the process of Nigeria Air and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.