How Aviation CEOs Looted N132bn In 7 Years

• ·Arik Flight from Lagos catches fire airborne
• ·Fake oxygen masks, passengers use tissue papers

By Kenneth Jukpor & Nkem Osuagwu

Over N132.7billion has been looted, stolen or misappropriated by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in Nigeria’s aviation industry in the last seven years, going by cases already in the public domain that are being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The incidents of looting according to industry watchers have left the aviation industry in an abysmal state of underdevelopment, with redundant developments in key areas especially infrastructure, technology and security.

Recall, that during the tenure of Princess Stella Oduah as Aviation Minister, she was implicated in the purchase of two armored car vehicle worth 160 million, also the exact amount involved in the remodeling of airports terminal projects cannot be ascertained, while there were reports that the minister left a debt of about N174 billion from the projects which are yet to be completed as some of the airport terminals across the country remain in state of disrepair.

Another case in focus is the arraignment of Engineer Ibrahim Abdulsalam, former Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and other management staff of the agency by EFCC for fraud of over N6.8 billion.

At the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Managing Director, Engineer Saleh Dunoma also has a case with the EFCC regarding the alleged N3billion found in his account, while a level 6 staff of the authority also has a case with EFCC over issues of inflation of furniture allowance and including non staff in the payroll of the authority worth about N100million.

Another fraudulent issue is the disbursement of N120billion airline intervention fund which cannot be appropriately accounted for by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bank of Industry (BOI), even as some airlines which benefited from the fund have gone under, including Air Nigeria, Chanchangi Airlines and others.

While it was reported that 10 airlines benefited from the fund, defunct Air Nigeria Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Jimoh was said to have diverted the N34.5 billion accessed through the airline to other countries without investing in the airline, resulting in its death.

Speaking with MMS Plus recently, Mr. Oche Aba, Secretary General of the Nigerian Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) said the aviation industry has suffered greatly because some aviation Chief Executive Officers failed to do the right things leaving the industry to suffer in diverse ways, as some of them have been involved in contract inflation, over-invoicing of contracts, and outright looting of government money.

However, Oche lamented that so far none of the perpetrators of these alleged crimes have been convicted over the years even beginning from the days of the liquidated Nigeria Airways.

He described corruption as the absence of transparency in issues that should be in public domain, even as he took a swipe at the current Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sikira who is currently packaging a new national airline for the country and the concession of airports without any iota of transparency in the procedures.

He listed some of the places where alleged corrupt practices have held sway in the aviation industry to include; the remodeling of airport terminals by the former aviation minister, Princess Stella Oduah stating that the airports are still worst off despite being remodeled, the Total Radar Coverage of the Airspace (TRACON) project which still has some uncompleted aspects despite the huge amount of money spent on it as well as the inflated purchase of the armored vehicle by Oduah.

He urged the government to come up with legislations that will ensure that the perpetrators of such crimes are convicted to deter others from such practices.

Arik Flight from Lagos catches fire airborne

In another development, an Arik Airplane flying from Lagos to Accra allegedly caught fire midair on Tuesday last week, in a horrible experience which almost ended the lives of the passengers onboard.

The aircraft known as STEPHEN had taken a seamless flight from 7:20pm when it took-off from Lagos until about thirty-five minutes when passengers started observing the smell of a burning item before the plane was eventually covered in smoke.

A victim who revealed this narrates the ugly experience; “I boarded Arik air flight W3304 to Accra on Tuesday 06/03/2018. The name of the aircraft is STEPHEN. It was a Dash 8 NextGen propeller aircraft. The flight took off precisely 7.20pm (Lagos time).Thirty-five minutes into the flight which ought to be fifty-five minutes, I started perceiving something smelling like a burning stuff. Shortly after the guy sitting next to me asked if I perceived any smell of burning stuff and that confirmed my worst fears. Before you could say jack, smoke has filled the cabin. The air hostesses were busy scampering around opening the cabins and the lavatories to check if they could trace the source of the smoke without success”

The witness who pleaded anonymity also lamented that the oxygen masks that were advertised during the safety demo prior to take-off couldn’t be released as they were only given serviettes to cover their noses in order to minimize and filter out possible carbon monoxide inhalation.

“This lasted for about five minutes. With fifteen minutes of flight time remaining, the pilot came on the public address system to inform us that there was smoke coming into the cabin and that they didn’t know the source and that they have declared emergency” the source said.

This near death experience ended at 8.15pm (7.15pm Accra time) as several fire service trucks waited at the Kotoko International airport, Accra to receive the plane.

Although, the passengers were evacuated into a waiting bus with instruction to leave everything behind in the cabin, there was no Arik official to address the passengers neither was there any manner of first aid attention given to the passengers to manage stress and possible elevated blood pressures.

When contacted to react to this horrendous experience, Arik’s spokeperson confirmed the incident, noting that Arik Air flight W3 304 from Lagos to Accra on March 6, 2018 declared an emergency in line with standard operating procedures, when unknown source of smoke was detected in the cabin 81 miles from Accra.

Arik revealed that the aircraft is currently parked in Acrra where its team of engineers are conducting comprehensive inspections on the aircraft to ascertain the cause of the smoke, stating that “the aircraft will be flown without passengers to a maintenance facility for rectification and testing. The relevant aviation authorities in Ghana and Nigeria have been briefed appropriately on the incident”

According to Arik, the captain of the flight briefed the passengers accordingly assuring them that the aircraft was under control and safe for landing in Accra.

The company also claims that the aircraft, a Dash 8 Q400, landed safely in Accra without further incident and all passengers disembarked normally.