By: Sunday Oyewole The embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah Thursday finally appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation investigating the purchase of controversial N255 million BMW armoured cars by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Reading a prepared speech, Oduah defended the purchase of the two security vehicles, insisting that the cars were budgeted for in the 2013 budget and approved by the lawmakers.
She also argued that the NCAA acted rightly by purchasing 56 number vehicles even as she denied knowledge that the cars were bought for her use.
Oduah said, “the 2 nos security/safety vehicles are provided for distinctively. I draw attention to this fact because of the erroneous belief in some quarters that, because in the course of the NCAA defending its budget proposal for 2013, it had to return to the NASS a few times to explain their proposal, therefore, the purchase was never appropriated.
“This may not be totally correct as 2 nos security / safety vehicles were provided for”, adding that it is erroneous to say the cars were purchased by NCAA without following due process as the BPP does not have any guidelines for lease financing which the NCAA engaged in.
The Minister also insisted that the purchase was not out of budgetary approval by the parliament, adding that the 56 vehicles bought by the NCAA was in order as it was backed by the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which was a planning tool for the budget which extended to 2015.
On the BMW, Oduah also confirmed that they were not bought outrightly with NCAA fund but through a lease agreement with a commercial bank, First Bank.
Justifying the purchase further, Oduah insisted the NCAA is under obligations to take proper care of the security of the Very Important Personalities (VIP) and other international guests from the aviation sector whenever they visit Nigeria.
Also on the issue of due process, the Minister admitted granting approval to the request of the NCAA to purchase the vehicles as required in the memo of request sent to her office; she however said she put a caveat which states “approved, kindly do the needful”.
During cross-examination, the Acting Director-General of NCAA when the purchase was consummated and executed was evasive throughout.
He could not provide answers to questions bothering on due process and whether the NCAA board approved the purchase prior to seeking ministerial approval.
Also, he could not categorically said what informed the increase in the number of vehicles approved in the budget from 25 to the eventual 56, saying the bullet-proof cars are available in the NCAA pool.
Mr. Cosmas Maduka, the Managing Director of Coscharis Motors, told the committee that he supplied top notch vehicles, the best available anywhere in the world to NCAA.
He denied knowledge of any BMW bullet-proof vehicle in the possession of NCAA which bore chassis number DW68032, saying the cars it delivered to NCAA, had chassis numbers DW68044 and DW68011.
Nkiru Onyejeocha, chairman of the aviation committee while closing the public hearing, said they would make use of all the documentary evidences presented during the hearing to write a fair report.
