BREAKDOWN: Arik ‘owed’ N387bn before FG took over
The management of Arik Air under the leadership of Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, its founder, owed about N387 billion both locally and internationally, before the federal government took over.
According to a fresh deposition before the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, it was revealed that the airline was deducting contributory pension from its workers earnings but was not remitting the same to the pension authorities.
A demand letter from the National Pension Commission showed that the airline had an outstanding pension remittance of N4.587 billion.
The airline had debts across the west coast, in the United States, and United Kingdom, which the federal government considers as de-marketing Nigeria’s business reputation abroad.
Below is a breakdown of Arik’s debt, as filed before the federal high court:
| S/N | Debt Description | Agency/Company Owed | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Airline Insurance | Name of insurance companies withheld | N418,893,067.97 |
| 2. | Staff Pension | National Pension Commission | N4,586,860,471.50 |
| 3. | Airline Maintenance | Lufthansa Technik Group | €31,000,000 |
| 4. | Bank Loan | Zenith Bank | N28,346,678,438 |
| 5. | Bank Loan | Access Bank | N9,447,673,924 |
| 6. | Service Provision | Amadeus Marketing Nigeria | N632,490,151.60 |
| 7. | Accomodation | Marriot and Best Western Hotels | N3,800,000 |
| 8. | Fraudulent Loan | Name of Bank withheld | N2,000,000 |
| 9. | Services and Use of Facilities | Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) | N11,215,279,204.19 |
| 10. | Financial advisory services | Pan African Capital Limited | N337,500,000 |
| 11. | Judgement debt and interest (Suit: FHC/ABJ/CS/234/08) | Nigerian Aviation Handling Company PLC. | N339,996,233.11 |
| 12. | Aviation Insurance Cover | Name withheld | N203,895,020.37 |
| 13. | Tax Consulting | Babington Ashaye & Co | N60,750,000 |
| 14. | Ticket Sales | Wakanow | N40,156,144.68 |
| 15. | Refund for unused tickets | Passengers | N22,275,450 |
| 16. | Telephone and Internet services | 21st Century Technologies Limited | N19,082,852.30 |
| 17. | Tax Liability | Kwara state Internal Revenue Service | N1,474,530 |
| 18. | Judgement Sum | Akpan Anthony | N1,474,530 |
| 19. | Lease of aircraft and one spare engine | Export Development Canada | $53,422,583.17 |
| 20. | Debt | Sky Enterprises LLC | $30,000,000 |
| 21. | Judgement sum | Arthur Eze and Atlas Petroleum Ltd. | $2,500,000 |
| 22. | Loan | Ike, Ike & Associates | $2,500,000 |
| 23. | FAAN Services | FAAN | $942,147.02 |
| 24. | Services | Airline Rotables Ltd. | $479,036.92 |
| 25. | Lease of PW 4168A-ID Engine | Pratt & Whitney Engine Leasing LLC | $140,610.21 |
| 26. | Fuel | World Fuel Services | $26,556.37 |
| 27. | Foreign Debt (West Africa) | Aviation Authorities in the West Coast | $6,500,000 |
| 28. | Foreign Debt (US) | US Customs | $987,170 |
| 29. | Foreign Debt (US) | US Internal Revenue Services | $311,888 |
| 30. | Foreign Debt (UK) | Heathrow and Her Majesty Revenue | N100,359,000 |
| 31. | Foreign Debt (UK) | UK Customs | N121,425,097.05 |
Based on the debts owed, the US IRS has declared a worldwide lien on all of Arik’s assets, which “makes the airline susceptible to arrest in any jurisdiction worldwide”.
According to Gbolahan Odutayo, the assistant vice president II (AVPII) and team lead, transport and aviation unit at Arik, the new receiver manager has spent N1.5 billion within February 8 and April 12, 2017, to keep the airline alive.
Odutayo said the US has also threatened to call upon the bond issued by Arik to the United States Customs for its operations in the US.
The federal government of Nigeria, through the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) says it would make its final decision about Arik, very soon.
This is absolutely shameful
Why no mention of the arrear salaries owed to the expatriate managers and pilots?
Surely the forensic audit should have established the bona fide non payment of expatriate staff salaries dating back to early 2016.
Why now? Why has it taken so long for the National Pension Commission to only now write a demand letter to Arik Air for the outstanding pension remittance of N4,587 billion?
Why were the best interests of the Arik Air staff not better served by the National Pension Commission instead of leaving it until now to react?
The National Pension Commission has some explaining along with Arik Air executive management for the non remittance of pension contributions to have accumulated to N4,587 billion.
I worked with arikair first 7 almost 8 years, our taxes and pensions were promptly deducted but we’re never remitted, I never ever got a tax clearance card, we were usually owed salaries sometimes for 4 months at a stretch, there were a whole load of unethical things going on that I would rather not mention, the list of hotels owed millions of naira is endless and we’re not at all captured here,I even wrote the pensions commissions regarding the non remittance of our pension but till date no one even so much as acknowledged my lettet.it is such a shame that such men are allowed to move around freely they ought to be behind bars and all their assets frozen.
I worked for ARIK Air for a few years, Nd the chairman did nt fulfill any of his promises. Some engineers were recruited to be trained by Lufthansa TECHNIK, they were to be trained to EASA B1 and B2 levels. Goodluck’s government released over two billion to train these guys, instead the aircraft engineers were paid N88,000 monthly and told to sign 1 billon naira bond each, and told to work for ARIK for 10 years. A few months later, there was a lie that the guys were hoping to seek political asylum in Germany.