Reps ask airways to refund N4bn COVID-19 funds

The Home of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has issued a one-week deadline to all personal airline operators within the nation to account for the sum of N4bn given to them by the Federal Authorities to sort out the COVID-19 pandemic or refund identical within the absence of justifiable proof of how the quantity was spent.

The committee, chaired by a member of the Peoples Democratic Social gathering from Osun State, Bamidele Salam, issued the ultimatum on Friday on the resumed investigative listening to into the alleged mismanagement of the COVID-19 intervention funds by ministries, departments and businesses of the Federal Authorities.

The PUNCH stories that the committee is investigating over 56 MDAs for alleged mismanagement of the intervention funds.

The committee stated, “All personal airways that obtained COVID-19 reduction funds designated to assist the aviation sector are to refund the allotted funds to the Federal Authorities treasury in the event that they fail to present justifiable proof of how the cash was judiciously spent inside every week.”

The committee lamented that despite their look, many airways and business stakeholders, together with Aero Contractors, Azman and representatives from the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Growth, couldn’t persuade the lawmakers satisfactorily how the funds given to them had been expended to handle the COVID-19 pandemic problem.

The Advertising Supervisor of Azman Airways, Odum Uju, who represented the corporate on the listening to,  admitted receiving N367.90m purportedly allotted for numerous operational bills, together with plane upkeep, spare components, fuelling, foreign exchange buying, and insurance coverage premium paid whereas the Station Supervisor of Aero Contractor, Abdulmalik Musa, stated the corporate obtained N217.35m from the Federal Authorities to handle the specter of the coronavirus.

The consultant of the Aero Contractor Airline, nonetheless, stated the fund was used for airport dealing with and facility fee, fuelling, onboard catering fee, pilot coaching funds, and lease rental funds.

Reacting to the submissions, a member of the committee and former pilot with the Nigerian Air Pressure, Ojuawo Adeniyi from Ekiti State, faulted the submissions, saying the providers claimed by the operators had been relevant solely in the course of the common operations of airways.

Subsequently, a movement was moved by the member representing Calabar Municipal/Odukpani Federal Constituency, Cross River State, Akiba Bassey, for the refund of N4bn to the Federation Account ought to the airways fail to present the committee a passable account of how they spent the COVID-19 intervention funds and identical was unanimously supported by his colleagues.