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…say there’s conspiracy of silence against Hadi Sirika
By our reporter
The accusation of alleged widespread corruption in the Aviation Ministry, especially over the National Carrier- the “Nigeria Air” levied against the former Minister, Hadi Sirika, has been described as skewed by critics, going by the fact that some key officers of the Ministry, cannot be absolved from mention.
A reliable source who hinted our correspondent disclosed that the former Minister could not have been involved in the controversy if he was well guided by the Permanent secretary who has the responsibility to clear the way for the Minister.
The source insisted that the Minister cannot
execute any proposal without the express input of the Permanent Secretary who is a career civil servant and conversant with the rules and procedures..
Our source was quoted as saying that it was surprising that the conspiracy of silence was going on in the Ministry with officials who were anchor men involved in the alleged financial heist.
It was learnt that the Head of Service specifically deployed the Permanent secretary, Dr Meribole to give support to the Minister to realize the project and therefore should not for any reason play down his role in the allegation of fraud in the establishment of the “Nigeria Air”.
Two Permanent Secretaries, according to the source had unceremoniously left the Ministry because they refused to compromise standards and get involved in fraudulent procedures. Engr. Musa Hassan, an Aeronautics Engineer was first removed before Mr Abel Enitan, an astute Civil servant got booted out for insisting on due process.
By tradition, new or inexperienced Permanent Secretaries are usually deployed to less pressure ministries to enable them garner sufficient knowledge before being deployed to grade A Ministries like Aviation, Power, Finance, Agriculture etc.
Having not gathered enough experience as a Permanent Secretary from Head of Service where he was serving under the present Head of Service, Dr Meribole was deployed to the Aviation Ministry in the last quarter of 2022.
Information at our disposal indicate that the Ministry is riddled with a lot of financial improprieties as the Perm Sec took advantage of his closeness with the Minister to also allegedly line his pockets.
This allegation ranges from fraudulent contract on Performance Management System to misappropriation of funds for procurement of window blinds and other unnecessary supplies to the Ministry by his town Union Chairman.
It is the view of our source that as the Accounting Officer, the Permanent secretary cannot be exonerated while the Minister is made a scape goat. One would have expected that the Federal Ministry of Aviation should by now come out with a clear official statement, giving details of what really transpired in the “Nigeria Air” Project, being party in possession of all documents relating to it.
The National Carrier project is not the only area that allegation of fraud is rife. There is allegation also that some projects are paid 100% without the contractors knowing the project sites. An NGO was said to have petitioned , requesting list of recent projects awarded, amount paid and work progress report. The project vehicles for these projects included in the Bill (1) have already been shared by the Ministry with the Perm Sec allegedly getting two Hilux vans.
There are insinuations from workers of NCAA that the Perm Sec allegedly got many foreign programmes with estacodes paid but didn’t attend the programmes.
This practice is said to be common even among the Permanent secretary’s aides. It was gathered that some Management staff who are not happy with the development have threatened to petition relevant authorities on his indecent activities, although some top management of the regulatory agency are already being questioned by the EFCC for other financial malfeasance.
When contacted on the allegations of corruption over the National Carrier, an Aviation expert who prefers anonymity regretted the scandal and called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to institute an investigation into the matter with the view of serving as a deterrent for other Permanent Secretaries and civil servants who may want to be reckless with public office.
He noted that it will give bad image to the nascent administration of President Bola Tinubu if the matter is swept under the carpet.
Inview of the alleged complicity of the Permanent Secretary in the Nigeria Air Project and other Financial irregularities in the Ministry and its Agencies, he has remained silent to avoid being linked with the tensed allegation against the former Minister, Hadi Sirika, thus leaving him to face the heat alone.
Though the whole issue is based on the realm of allegation, it is yet to be proved that either the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika or the Permanent secretary, Dr Meribole are guilty of the accusations.
