Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has refuted the claim of spending N100 billion on the Nigeria Air project under the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
He refuted the claim while speaking
as a guest on Channels Television’s Morning Brief.
The former Minister argued that due process was followed in attempts to execute the project he embarked on then.
While denying claims that he spent N100 billion on the project, he said only about N3 billion out of the total N5 billion budget was released.
“It is a lie that I spent N100 billion, and it was lost in the process. The total budget for the national carrier was N5bn, the total amount released was N3 billion, and I left the ministry with over N1 billion.
“We went through every single step of the ICRC process, and we got it to the end, and we had an airline.
“Some people went to court, Airspeace, United and Azman went to court to say that we cannot, as a government, establish an airline while we take a stake of five per cent, and that is what stalled it.
“If there was no court case and if the government had come in and pursued the court case by today, we would have had the airline,” Sirika stated.
Sirika, who left office in 2023, is facing trial for alleged corruption and abuse of office.
Recall that Sirika is accused of awarding multi-billion naira contracts to companies owned by his family members, including his daughter, Fatima Sirika, and son-in-law, Jalal Hamma, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).