N255m bulletproof cars deal illegal, panel told

Minister of aviation Stella Oduah

Posted by: Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja in Featured, News 16 hours ago

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, breached procurement laws in the purchase of two BMW armoured cars, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) said yesterday.

At the commencement of the House of Representatives’ public hearing on the purchase of the cars, the agency could not provide authorisation for the deal.

The minister was not at the hearing as she was away in Israel on an official assignment.

The revelations were made by BPP in its response to the committees’s request for correspondences between it and NCAA on the procurement of the two vehicles.

NCAA was also said to have failed to get the consent of the BPP for the transaction in contravention of procurement laws.

Mr. Ayo Aderibigbe, a Deputy Director in the BPP, said there were no correspondences between the two. “We have nothing to forward to the House on this matter; we also have nothing on details and dates on the procurement process, including a certificate of no objection, on the purchase of the vehicles,

“We also have no other relevant documents that could facilitate the process of the Committees’s investigation in the purchase of the two vehicles,” Aderibigbe said.

The BPP spoke on the procurement of such goods, saying approval must be by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) once it is over N100m and not the Ministerial Tenders Board.

The procurement that was approved by the Minister was also in breach of the law as the cost of the two vehicles at N255,159m can only be approved by the FEC.

The agency was also shown to display total disregard for the law with the purchase of the two armoured cars that were removed from the agency’s budget during its 2013 budget defence/presentation at the House of Representatives.

In addition, the aviation agency also breached the 2013 Appropriation Act by exceeding the budgeted amount of N240m to purchase operational vehicles for N403m.

Similarly, while 25 operational vehicles were appropriated for, the agency went ahead to procure 54 vehicles.

The purchase of 54 vehicles instead of the approved 25 cost the agency N643m that would eventually amount to N1,018b, with the instalmental repayment, according to the term of agreement with the bank.

The Director General of NCAA, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, who was unable to provide information on the Oduah car transaction, said the deal was completed before his assumption of office on August 14.

He also said though he received handing over notes from all the directors of the agency, none mentioned the procurement of the two vehicles and when he asked questions about it, no one offered any explanation.

The then Acting Director General, Mr. Joyce Nkemakolom, during whose tenure between April 14 and August 14 the procurement was made, angered the committee by evading questions.

He could not defend how one unit of the armoured car put at N70m in the memorandum sent to the minister was purchased for N127m.

When he was asked if the procurement of the vehicles was correct and in consonance with the Appropriation Act, he said it was a lease finance facility and not an outright purchase.

Nkemakolom failed to cite the relevant sections of the Act to back his claim, but the BPP said the procurement involved government funds.

He also saw no wrong in overshooting the budget, saying the vehicles were property of First Bank that financed the deal.

“As we speak, the vehicles are still under the control of the financing bank and we were given approval for N240m for the procurement in the 2013 budget and with this procedure, we can never, never flap that ceiling,” Nkemakolom said.

The committee said Nkemakolom was lying on oath with documents that showed how NCAA exceeded the number of vehicles approved in the budget with his signature on the document.

He was also shown another document that confirmed the delivery of the vehicles to the Ikeja office of the agency on August 13, 2013.

The Chairman of the Committee, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, said her Committee’s only interest was Nigeria and that in line with the mandate of the House aimed to find out whether the purchase was correct.

She also said the Committee wanted to find out if the purchase was authorised by any Appropriation law, whether NCAA had been complying with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) on internally generated revenue and whether any minister is entitled to such vehicles under the law.

The committee adjourned its sitting to Tuesday, asking Oduah, the Chairman of Coscharis Motors and the Managing Director of First Bank to appear before it.

The Committee requested NCAA to come along with details of banks where it has accounts as well as six months statement from the banks.

APC: Presidential panel diversionary

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned against any attempt by the “unimaginative spin doctors” of the Aviation Ministry to use politics as a cover for the egregious corruption scandal surrounding the illegal purchase of two armoured cars for the Minister of Aviation.

In a statement in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was “most unconscionable for anyone to blame the supposed opposition to President Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 as the reason for the widespread outcry against the monumental corruption and abuse of office engendered by the scandal.”

It said that the opposition, in particular, “should not be blamed for the justifiable indignation of most Nigerians to the scandal, as Yakubu Dati, who goes by the nebulous title of ‘coordinating spokesperson for the aviation ministry”.

“Don’t blame him. After all, there is a coordinating minister of the economy, a title unknown to the Constitution) tried to do in his winding postulation on the scandal.

‘’What Dati and his co-spin doctors tried to do is to play on President Jonathan’s insecurity as far as 2015 elections are concerned. This is very insulting not only to Nigerians but also to President Jonathan himself, and it will not sell. After all, attempts to blame the opposition for the lingering ASUU strike has also failed. In any case, what is the business of a public servant, who is supposed to be apolitical, about whether a President is re-elected or not?

‘’We in the APC have not joined the fray over the Oduahgate scandal since it broke out because we thought this was a straightforward case of corruption and abuse of office that should be summarily dealt with. But President Jonathan has again failed to live up to expectation, thus allowing all manners of clowns to seek to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians in the name of defending the indefensible,’’ the APC said.

The party wondered why President Jonathan will engage in a diversionary and exculpatory strategy of setting up a panel to investigate the scandal, when there are statutory bodies that are supposed to do so.

‘’There is precedence on how to handle such a matter. In case President Jonathan has forgotten, his then boss, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, sacked Adenike Grange and Gabriel Aduku, Minister of Health and Minister of State for Health respectively, for spending part of the ministry’s unspent budget. The Permanent Secretary and other top officials of the ministry were also suspended when the issue broke out. No panel was set up before this action was taken.

‘’While many may argue that President Jonathan is only following ‘due process’ in dealing with the issue, we counter that he is only seeking to buy time while hoping that the issue will die down. The composition of the panel set up by the President itself supports our stand. It is doubtful if any of the members will act against what they perceive to be the ‘interest’ of the President on the issue,’’ it said.

The APC also condemned the arrest of Mr. Dino Melaye and other protesters against the Oduahgate scandal in Abuja, saying the police, by their action, have signalled that they will protect corrupt public officials.

The party said the reasons given by the police, obstruction of traffic and disturbance of public peace, were apparently cooked up to justify their shameful act.

‘’The Nigeria Police must learn to operate in accordance with the best practices around the world. Elsewhere, the police will offer protection to peaceful protests, the type that Mr. Melaye led in Abuja, and ensure that their protests are not hijacked by hoodlums, like the hired pro-Oduah protesters who reportedly attacked those protesting against corruption and abuse of office.

‘’This is not what is expected of a police force that is maintained with taxpayers fund, and all those involved in harassing and arresting the anti-corruption protesters must bow their heads in shame,’’ APC said.