The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation used a 6 June 2023 investigative hearing to deliver a blunt verdict on the Nigeria Air project: the unveiling of the national carrier in the closing days of the Buhari administration was, in the words of committee chairman Nnolim Nnaji, "a fraud."
The session, held at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, brought together representatives of the Airline Operators of Nigeria and officials from the Ministry of Aviation. Emmanuel Meribole, the ministry's permanent secretary, told lawmakers that Nigeria Air had not yet been issued an air operator certificate and that the 26 May event amounted only to an unveiling, not a launch — a distinction the committee dismissed as an attempt to deflect scrutiny.
Committee Demands Suspension and Prosecution
In its resolutions, the committee said it was "totally dissatisfied" with former Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika's decision to proceed with the unveiling despite what it described as a standing court injunction against such action, and questioned the role played by Ethiopian Airlines in the process. It called on the federal government to immediately suspend Nigeria Air's operations, urged President Bola Tinubu to set up a high-level presidential committee to review how the project had been established, and said everyone involved in what it called the "controversial shenanigan" should be investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted.
Ministry officials disputed figures being circulated about how much had been spent on the project, with Meribole telling the committee that under N3.8 billion had been released for Nigeria Air since 2017. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission subsequently summoned Sirika over the project the same month.
Setting Up a Reckoning
The committee's findings placed the incoming aviation minister under immediate pressure to act, setting the stage for a formal suspension of the project once President Tinubu's cabinet was sworn in later that summer.
