Missing N43bn revenue: Reps consider issuing an arrest warrant for NAMA boss

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency’s (NAMA) Managing Director, Mohammed Odunowo, faces a warrant of arrest from the House of Representatives on Monday due to unpaid revenue of N43 billion from the sale of domestic and international air tickets between 2021 and 2022. The House made this threat on Wednesday.

During the resumption of the hearing in Abuja, Hon. Abiodun James Faleke, the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, expressed his disapproval of the level of disregard for the Parliament by issuing the threat notice.

“When we did the calculation, I recall that we recorded about N43 billion deficit,” expressed Faleke, who was concerned over the NAMA helmsman’s failure to accept the two invitations that the Committee had sent him. Naturally, the NCAA stated that they disagreed with the figure given by FAAN. Whatever the data, it was not up to that level.

“And FAAN stated that NAMA, not them, was the source of this. Additionally, a record exists—the ADR 16—that produces that. We therefore requested that they return with NAMA and particular information from that ADR 16.

“And we have NCAA in front of us today. Sadly, NAMA is not present. We will issue an arrest warrant for NAMA the next time; I’m not sure why this is happening a second time. We will issue an arrest warrant for the NAMA chairman if he does not show up before us on Monday,” the judge declared.

The Committee questioned the NCAA delegation and then requested information from the Accountant General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regarding every account that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) was managing.

The lawmakers expressed disapproval of the Agency’s failure to furnish the ADR 16 data, but they emphasised that the NCAA must furnish pertinent documents that include comprehensive monthly reports detailing the total number of passengers carried by all airlines, the manner in which passengers are transported to different destinations, the ticket fees charged by each airline, and a five percent portion of the charges.

The legislators also requested documentation of the distribution pattern of the entire amount as well as the bank accounts of the five organisations to whom the five percent of revenue from sales of airline tickets is allocated.

The senators emphasised the necessity for pertinent facts to support their assertions, expressing concern over the NCAA delegation’s inconsistent description of billable and non-billable airline operations, scheduled and non-scheduled aircraft operations, and chartered flights.

Hon. Faleke scowled at the disparity between the number of billable departed passengers and the overall number of domestic passengers recorded in 2018—15,518,978 versus 3,791,985 international passengers—while closely examining the NCAA’s presentation.

Hon. Faleke expressed concern over the NCAA’s careless approach to due diligence by saying, “The next time you appear here, we will not hesitate to take action that will affect your seat.”

He said that the regulatory agency’s representatives “are hiding the money, which is why you refused to provide the data.”

“People like you have consistently reported negative balances. I’ve studied every one of you a great deal. You were told to bring the data since we are searching for N43 billion, but you refused.

We will force you to turn over the documents if you’re not ready to. He swore, “And if you don’t want to be in that office, someone else will bring it in.

In response, the NCAA delegation—which included the Director of Operations, Captain Ibrahim Dambazau, and Abubakar Dachi—stated that the ADR 16 is the only genuine document that is advised worldwide for aircraft documentation.

He went on to say that operators’ operations will be issued a code and an aircraft’s schedule time.

The NCAA claims that since private chartered flights do not charge for tickets, such passengers are not assessed fees.

Hon. Faleke repeatedly emphasised the necessity for all NAMA, NCAA, NCAT, NSIB, and NiMET beneficiaries of the 5 percent to provide an accounting of their stewardship in an attempt to locate the stolen monies.

In order to achieve this, the Committee decided that all parties involved should show up on December 14th with all of the needed records.