The House of Representatives joint committees on the Air Force and Justice on Thursday began an investigative hearing to probe the Nigerian Air Force over a controversial ₦10 billion building project owned by Blue Boulevard Limited.
The company had petitioned the House accusing the military of breach of an agreement they had over a land NAF leased to the company.
Following the short brief on the hearing, the chairman of the committee on air force, Shehu Mohammed (APC, Kebbi), said the hearing would resume after both parties might have tendered necessary documents to back their cases.
Mr Mohammed said “to ensure fair hearing”, the company should serve copies of its petition and the necessary documents with the committee while sharing an acknowledgement copy with the air force.
He added that copies of their petition should also be sent to the Chief of Air Staff, NAF Holdings, NAF Properties on or before February 27 with acknowledgement copies sent to the committee’s secretariat.
Meanwhile in an interview with journalists on the sidelines, Peter-Kings Osunde, General Manager of Blue Boulevard Limited, claimed his company had built a mall and a market for the Air Force in the latter’s Port Harcourt base.
He said the company funded the project and was to run it for 20 years before handing it back to the Nigerian Air Force.
He accused them of ‘messing up’ the project before the expiration of the set duration, “at a time over ₦10 billion had been spent.”
With the agreement breached, rather than make amends, Mr Osunde claimed the NAF operatives instead invaded the shopping mall, an action that made the company to file a suit against the security outfit.
“We went to the Federal High Court and it passed the injunctions on them and the matters came out in the papers. It is those injustices that has caused over 1000 jobs and monetary loss.
“All those are the matters the House of Representatives committee is looking at and trying to straighten them out.”
Spokesperson of the Nigerian Air Force, Ibikunle Daramola, declined to comment when reached on Friday.Premium Times
