|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Adhoc Committee investigating the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Intervention Fund on Wednesday summoned the former Managing Director of Arik Air, Johnson Ikedi Arumeme and bank chiefs to clarify issues on the alleged diversion of over N2 trillion intervention for the airline.
The fund was disbursed by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Bassey, who expressed the position of the Committee, also slammed the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) for releasing such huge sum of money to Arik Air without proper monitoring.
“This is wrong, very wrong. We are not helping ourselves at all. And you have not been able to make contact with Arik to know what was actually going on,” he stated.
The lawmakers also frowned at the failure of the regulatory agencies to put in place monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure effective utilization of the fund.
The investigative hearing cuts across the management of Arik Air by CBN, AMCON, Bank of Industry and a consortium of commercial banks made up of Ecobank, Union Bank and Keystone Bank.
In his presentation, Suleiman Abdulmajid, AMCON’s Head, Energy Intervention, explained that the Corporation released the fund to Arik Air to enable the airline reconfigure two of its grounded aircraft and purchase new engines.
He said the idea to intervene was a government initiative conceived principally to ensure that the airline never went under.
“This was never a contract. It was meant to ensure that Arik never went under,” he stated.
He added that while a South African firm, Emirate Touch Consortium, was contracted to monitor Arik’s utilization of the fund for the purposes they were meant, Ecobank supervised the disbursement of the fund.
Abdulmajeed said: “It was later discovered that Arik never made use of the money for the reconfiguration, hence we reported them to EFCC.”
While ruling, Ewa Bassey, who chaired by investigative public hearing mandated all the stakeholders to appear on Wednesday, May 9, 2018.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
