In response to public outcry against the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) purchase of two BMW bulletproof cars for the minister of aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, for N255m, the House of Representatives yesterday resolved to open an investigation into the matter.
The scope of the investigation, which is to be done by the House Committee on Aviation, will cover a six-point reference terms including whether the minister was entitled to the cars and whether the expenditure was budgeted for.
The decision was reached after the lawmakers adopted the resolutions of a motion raised by the minority whip, Hon. Samson Osagie (APC, Edo), yesterday during the plenary session of the House which resumed yesterday from its two-week recess.
The probe is with specific reference to the following: (1) Whether it is correct that the purchase was made; (2) Whether the purchase was authorised by any appropriation law; (3) Whether NCAA has been complying with Fiscal Responsibility Act on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR); (4) Whether the minister is entitled to such vehicle under any law in Nigeria; (5) Whether (if the answer to 2 above is in the negative) the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and all other anti-corruption agencies are not bound to investigate and prosecute all those involved; (6) Whether (if 2 above is correct) the president and commander-in-chief can continue to retain the services of the minister and all those involved in the matter.
Leading debate on the motion, Osagie noted that an agency which is supposed to be autonomous from the Ministry of Aviation would be the one to engage in “such a collosal expenditure” in a country where the university system has been shut down for close to four months and there is a high rate of unemployment and insecurity.
A member of the Aviation committee, Hon Matthew Omegara, while contributing to the debate, said that the purchase of the two vehicles was deleted from the budget of the agency when it came to the committee for budget defence but was apparently smuggled back in by the officials.
This position was supported by Hon. Mohammed Ali Wudil (PDP, Kano) who said even the chairman of the committee, Hon. NkirukaOnyejiocha (PDP, Abia), testified to that fact when they called her for clarification.
The Onyejiocha-led committee has one week to carry out its assignment and turn in its report to the House.
Reps to probe Qatar Air landing rights in Kano
The lawmakers also resolved to investigate, through an ad-hoc committee, why the minister of aviation allegedly refused to grant landing rights to Qatar Air in Kano State.
Raising a motion on this, Hon. Ali Madaki (PDP, Kano State), informed his colleagues that Oduah had allegedly previously stopped four airlines from operating in Kano and Abuja international airports.
He added that details of a bilateral agreement between aviation authorities and that of the government of Qatar signed on June 24 and 25 in Doha show that the interest of Qatar Airlines to use Kano and Abuja airports for its operations was rejected by aviation authorities who were favourably disposed to any other airport in the country.
Madaki said it was unacceptable for a minister of the federal government to act in a way that promotes regional and ethnic sentiments, adding that the national interest should be in the development of the entire country.
He said, “No officer of the Nigerian government should stop airlines from flying to any part of the country just because she has interests. Whatever the reasons, I am sure they are not in the interest of the country.”
We’ll soon invite Oduah - Uzodinma
In a related development, Senator Domingo Obende (Edo, APC) has revealed that the purchase of the N255 million cars by NCAA under the Ministry of Aviation for Oduah was not in the 2013 budget.
The development came just as the chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodima, explained that the embattled minister and heads of agencies under her ministry did not appear before the Senate during its plenary yesterday as widely speculated because his committee is yet to invite her.
But Senator Obende, who is a member of the Senate Committee on Aviation, told journalists after the plenary that the purchase of the bulletproof cars was never in the budget and the committee never treated anything of such.
He said, “You know very well when you go through the 2013 budget, there is nothing like that. Two vehicles costing N255 million that the National Assembly approved? That is obviously not true, because I don’t know any vehicle that will cost $1.6 million; that I am totally in disagreement with -- it was never in the budget and we never went through it. I am a member of the Aviation committee in the Senate and we never treated anything of such.”
But Senator Uzodinma has explained that the Senate had just approved the votes and proceedings of its sitting on October 8 before the Senate went on Sallah recess where the senators unanimously agreed to summon Oduah and the heads of agencies under her.
He said, “With the approval of the votes and proceedings of the last Senate session today (Tuesday), containing the summoning of the minister, our committee will now meet within the week to fix the exact date of invitation of the minister and other relevant aviation chiefs for questioning on the troubled sector.”
On the N255 million armoured car purchase, Uzodinmasaid:”As the chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, I have read a lot on the alleged scandal in the media and I believe other members of the committee are also up-to-date on the raging issue.
According to him, the Senate cannot jump into the fray of the controversy based on media information alone, without properly checking records for facts and figures on whether the alleged vehicles bought were appropriated for or not by the agencies that purchased them.
He said, “Our appeal to the general public for now is that they should exercise patience on the entire crisis bedeviling the aviation sector as the Senate and, in particular, its Committee on Aviation will surely carry out thorough investigation to unravel the whole crisis.”
Anxiety over 4 Limousine cars at NAMA
There is palpable anxiety in the air at the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) over the disclosure that four stretch Limousine cars and four brand new Toyota Tundra vehicles found in its Total Radar Coverage of the Nation’s Airspace (TRACON) site in Abuja may have been bought for the minister of aviation, Stella Oduah.
This is coming following public outcry over the $1.6 million two BMW armoured vehicles purchased for Oduah by the NCAA.
Saharareporters.com, an online publication, had alleged that NAMA, another agency under the Ministry of Aviation, purchased the vehicles for the minister.
Though officials of NAMA could not be reached for official confirmation on the matter, an official within the agency who preferred not to be named told our correspondent that the vehicles had been parked at the NAMA’s TRACON site since the commissioning of the remodelled Abuja Airport Terminal building and that the vehicles belong to the concessionaire, who is operating the new remodelled Abuja airport terminal.
According to the source, the private firm planned to use the vehicles for Limousine service (car hire service) that will exclusively cater to the needs of charter operators and their clients at the Abuja airport.
Asked why the vehicles were parked at the NAMA complex, the source said the owner approached the agency for parking space which was granted pending when his Limousine service will take off.
Efforts by our reporter to get a response by the general manager, public affairs of NAMA, SupoAtobatele, did not produce result as he could not be reached, neither could coordinating general manager for aviation agencies, YakubuDati, be reached to disclose the identity of the concessionaire managing the remodelled Abuja airport terminal. Dati’s secretary said he was out of the country.
Limousines belong to a concessionaire - NAMA
But spokesman to NAMA Mr Supo Atobatele has said that the Limousines belonged to a concessionaire who is running a VIP shuttle service for Non-Schedule Operators (Charter flights).
Atobatele, “The attention of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency(NAMA) has been drawn to a frivolous, malicious and mischievous report being bandied by an online news outfit to the effect that the agency bought four Limousines along with other brands for the Ministry of Aviation or its leadership.
“We hereby make it categorically clear to the unsuspecting public that this evil story as being promoted is patently false in its entirety and calculated to put the agency and the office of the minister into disrepute.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the said Limousines belong to a concessionaire who is running a VIP shuttle service for Non-Schedule Operators (Charter flights).”
culled from Leadership
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