The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, has denied asking for a five per cent equity in Nigeria Air.
The lawmaker inferred that the ex-minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, ‘is a drowning man struggling to grab anything on his way to survive the barrage of attacks he has been receiving since his controversial unveiling ceremony of the so-called Nigeria Air.’
While responding to Sirika’s allegations, Nnaji in a statement on Sunday, said the former minister was not happy that he had demanded transparency and due process in all matters relating to the aviation sector, especially the Nigeria Air project.
He added that the House suspended further questions when the Airline Operators of Nigeria sued the Ministry and Nigeria Air in court and got an injunction to stop it.
He said, “Ordinarily l would not have bothered to reply to his allegations of my demand for 5 per cent equity in Nigeria Air as he claimed during his interview on Arise Television but l believe I owe my constituents and indeed Nigerians a duty to put the records straight.
“It is on record that last year when the Minister announced Ethiopian Airlines as a core investor in Nigeria Air, my committee which was also inundated with petitions from various stakeholders regarding that announcement invited the Minister and his team to furnish the committee with the details of the project.
“The committee requested the evidence of the bid process that gave Ethiopian Airlines the award and, the full business case as prepared by the Nigerian Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, (ICRC) which was supposed to spell out the details of all the investors and their equity contributions.
