The House of Representatives announced that it has agreed to listen to complaints lodged by airline operators in Nigeria over the handling of COVID-19 funds by the Ministry of Aviation.
This was disclosed by Rep. Nnolim Nnaji, Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, in a statement on Monday.
The House Chairman added that the allegations raised by the airline operators could not go unnoticed, and revealed that the House of Reps has agreed to summon the Ministry on its disbursement of intervention funds, citing that the Committee would cut short its Easter break to investigate the issue.
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“The essence is not to witch-hunt anybody but to clear every doubt over the disbursements. We want to know the detailed disbursements, airline by airline, the parastatals under the ministry and other organisations.
“The committee was quite aware of the challenges facing the industry due to the COVID-19 impact and the genuine concerns expressed by its Minister, Sen. Hadi Sirika, on the need for Federal Government’s palliative to the industry.
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“Some airline operators, have, however, complained that despite being asked to submit their details which they did, up till date, there has been no response from the ministry.
“There were also allegations that the ministry carried out selective disbursements and that the exercise lacked transparency,” he said.
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What you should know
Recall Nairametrics reported in November 2020 that the federal government would soon start disbursing the approved bailout fund of N5 billion to operators in the aviation sector, which is intended to ameliorate the harsh realities of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business operations.