Lawmakers in the House of Representatives on Wednesday called for the prosecution of indicted persons on the looting the finances and property of the defunct Nigeria Airways, estimated at over N60 billion.
The estimated N60 billion loot was based on the findings of the Justice Obiora Nwazota Commission of Inquiry set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002 on the liquidated national carrier.
Opening the debate on the alleged fraud, a member from Lagos State, Mr James Faleke, who moved a motion on the matter, noted that the commission’s report which was approved as a White Paper by the government, had directed the Ministry of Finance to recover the money and that the police should prosecute the indicted culprits.
The lawmaker, whose motion was adopted unanimously by members, expressed concern that up till now, neither had the N60 billion been recovered nor had any culprit brought to book on the fraud.
He explained that rather than recovering the loot, the current administration was now providing the defunct national carrier’s retirees N22.6 billion as 50 percent payment of the entitlements of the ex-workers.
The legislator said: “The House is dumbfounded that despite the release of the White Paper and the approval given to the paper as well as the directive to the Ministry of Finance and the police, the previous governments refused to prosecute the culprits.”
After debating the motion, the House resolved to revisit the issue by investigating it, identifying the identities of the indicted persons and ensuring that they were prosecuted and made to refund the loot.
