EFCC Grills Hadi Sirika On N8bn Contract Not Executed
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Sen Hadi Sirika, (middle), in Colombia to negotiate the purchase of trainer aircraft, and the construction of a plant to manufacture Magnus light aircraft in Nigeria
The immediate past Minister who brought to live the Aviation and Aerospace Development Ministry, Sen Hadi Abubakar Sirika, on Tuesday appeared at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and spent an appreciable period of time with the investigators.
The Minister was reportedly grilled by the investigators over the alleged fraudulent award of N8,069,176,864.00 contract to his younger brother, Abubakar Sirika, who until the arrest of the minister, his brother was a staff and Director at the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Abuja.
The ex-minister’s brother, Abubakar Sirika, was reportedly arrested and detained by the EFCC sometime in January 2024, before the 4th February 2024 visitation to EFCC by Hadi. The brother who was a civil servant was accused of receiving the sum of N3,212,258,930.18 paid to his company, Engirios Nigerian Limited’s, bank account by his brother, Hadi, the ex-minister.
The sum paid to Engirios Nigeria Limited solely owned by Hadi’s junior brother was for four aviation contracts.
Preliminary investigation by EFCC revealed the first of the contracts from the former minister to Engirios Nigeria Limited was awarded on 18th August 2022, for the construction of the Terminal Building in Katsina Airport, at a cost of N1,345,586,500.00.
The second was awarded on 3rd November 2022, for the establishment of the Fire Truck Maintenance and Refurbishment Center in Katsina Airport, valued at N3, 811,497,685.00.
The charge sheet by EFCC revealed the third contract was awarded on 3rd February 2023, for the procurement and installation of lifts, air conditioners, and a power generator’s house in Aviation House, Abuja, at the cost of N615,195,275.00.
Records revealed the fourth contract was awarded on 5th May 2023, for the procurement of Magnus aircraft and a simulator for the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, Zaria, at the cost of N2, 296,897,404.00.
Moreover, EFCC investigation revealed that out of the total contract sum, the ex-minister, Hadi Sirika, “paid out N3,212,258,930.18 to his brother’s Engirios Nigerian Limited.
The investigation also unearthed that upon receipt of the payment, Abubakar Sirika, through Engirios Nigerian Limited, where he was the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, and the sole signatory, transferred the fund to different companies and individuals.
The anticlimax however was that ”there is no traces of work done on any of the contract items to date”, the charge sheet averred.
A close source to EFCC said Hadi Sirika will soon be handed a date to appear in court if not much is achieved from the alternate measures to ensure a refund.
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