Senate to quiz ex-minister, others over missing N17.5bn

Shola Adekola, Lagos - 04.02.2008

A former minister and some past chief executives of some aviation organisations may soon be quizzed by the committee set up by the Senate to investigate the disappearance of over N17.5 billion in the aviation industry in the past one year.

According to Nigerian Tribune findings, the interrogation would give a clue as to the whereabouts of the funds released to the industry to cushion the effects of the crashes that rocked the industry two years ago.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Anyim Ude, had at joint meeting of the stakeholders oversight function in Abuja, said, the Senate committee would probe the disbursement of the fund.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune on the phone, the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr. Roland Iyayi said he was not invited for a probe but to help assist the committee on how the money was spent.

According to him, while N2 billion out of the money was released to (FAAN) to pay the severance benefits of the staff it disengaged, another N7 billion was given the same agency to take care of some projects.

The Senate last Monday initiated investigation into the whereabouts of the N19.5 billion intervention fund. The whereabouts of the money had raised dust in the industry with many stakeholders calling for a probe on how it was spent by the affected agencies.

An aviation security agency and the Aviation Round Table (ART) had at a press conference called for the investigation of how the intervention fund was spent by telling Nigerians the concrete projects the fund was used to execute.

A member of the ART, Captain Dele Ore, called for the rendering of account now because of the decaying infrastructure in all the country’s airports. “It is sad that the question raised by stakeholders as to what the money was used for has not been answered. Apart from the safe tower project, there is nothing to show that the money was well spent.

Let them invite all the people saddled with the responsibility of managing the funds and let them tell us how the money was spent. The Senate should do a thorough job and let us know the truth and nothing but the truth,” Captain Ore said.

At the time the fund was released, Chief Femi Fani- Kayode was the Minister of State for Air Transport while Mr. Yusuf Muhammed was the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Mr. Iyayi was the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA.

Reacting to the development, the media assistant to Chief Fani-Kayode, Mr. Bayo Oladeji, said the former minister never received any summons from Senate on the matter.