The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, Festus Keyamo, has announced the indefinite suspension of the Nigeria Air Project by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Keyamo made this known during the ministerial briefing to mark the Tinubu administration’s first anniversary.
He said the airline was never a Nigerian airline, but rather an attempt to use a foreign airline to pose as such.
Persecondnews recalls that the Ministry, under its former Minister, Hadi Sirika, unveiled Nigeria Air three days before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2023.
This development has sparked widespread concern among stakeholders across the country, who are questioning the ownership structure that grants Ethiopian Airlines a 49% share in the venture.
The federal government had 5 percent equity, while a consortium of three Nigerian investors had 46 percent.
The House of Representatives responded to the deal by labeling it a fraud and requested the federal government to suspend the project.
In August 2023, Keyamo made an announcement suspending the national carrier project indefinitely, pending further review and decision.
Persecondnews reported that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in May 2024 filed new charges alleging that Sirika, while serving as Minister of Aviation, abused her position on August 18th, 2022, in Abuja, to unfairly benefit Enginos Nigeria Limited, a company linked to his biological brother, Ahmad Abubakar Sirika.
Specifically, the charges claim that Sirika used his influence to secure a contract for the company’s construction of a terminal building at Katsina Airport, worth N1,345,586,500.00.”
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