The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority on Thursday told the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation that the Ministry of Aviation approved the controversial purchase of the N255m bulletproof cars for Ms Stella Oduah.
The Director of Aerodrome in the NCAA, Mr. Joyce Nkem-Akonam, made this known during the committee’s public sitting in Abuja.
Nkem-Akonam, who handled the transaction as the acting managing director of the NCAA, had made spirited efforts to defend the purchase.
He told the committee members that since “Leased financing, not direct financing, was adopted to procure the vehicles,” the agency breached no law.
When asked if leased financing was not a commitment that the NCAA would still pay for the vehicles, he said it did not mean that it was extra-budgetary spending.
Facing a barrage of questions from the committee members, he later said the NCAA got approval from the Aviation ministry.
• BPE faults NCAA, says it wasn’t contacted
But, the Bureau for Public Procurement faulted him when it disputed the claim that the contract for the cars followed due process.
An official of the BPP, who represented the Director-General, Mr. Ayo Aderigbigbe, told the committee that no ministry had powers to approve any expenditure above N100m.
“A ministerial tenders board can approve expenditure of N100m and below, but if it is above N100m, it must go before the Federal Executive Council,” he explained.
The BPP official also surprised the committee members when he disclosed that the agency was never contacted by the NCAA over the car purchase.
He said, “We have nothing to forward to the committee on this matter. We have no information on the purchase of the two vehicles or the contract in question.”
The Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Fola Akintuotu, had earlier told the committee that he was not in charge of affairs when the transaction took place.
He said he assumed duties on August 14, after the expenditure had been done.
But there was a mild drama when the committee asked him whether the earlier explanation of the minister’s aide (Joe Obi) that the cars were bought because the life of Oduah was in danger was correct.
“I can’t speak for the SA(Special Adviser) to the minister,” he responded.
Again, he was asked whether a minister was entitled to the type of protection the cars were meant to serve.
To this, he said, “I believe that is a hypothetical question and I cannot answer it.”
• N1bn committed to cars by NCAA
Fresh facts emerged during the committee’s sitting on how the NCAA made a commitment of “over N1bn” to procure vehicles for security and operational purposes this year without appropriation by the National Assembly.
The agency bought 54 vehicles for N643.1m under “Leased Financing” entered into with the First Bank Plc. These included the controversial N255m bulletproof cars.
The total budget approved by the National Assembly for NCAA’s vehicles this year is N240m.
The National Assembly’s figure (N240m) is for 25 vehicles, excluding the two bulletproof cars.
The Aviation committee, which worked on the budget of the agency, had rejected the NCAA’s request to buy the bulletproof cars.
The NCAA later side-tracked the National Assembly to seek the approval of the Ministry of Aviation to purchase the cars.
More revelations indicated that the NCAA applied to buy each of the bulletproof cars at N70m.
However, it later opted to pay N127.5m for each car, totalling N255m for the two.
This brought the “extra-budgetary” expenditure of the NCAA on vehicles this year to N643.1m.
The committee discovered that the N643.1m was a loan taken from the First Bank Plc and excluded interest, charges and other costs built into the terms of the agreement.
A member of the panel, Mr. Mohammed Wudil, said, “What has come to light is that, if you calculate and include all the charges, the NCAA has committed about N1bn of public funds to these vehicles.”
• 1999 Constitution breached—Panel
The committee, which is headed by Mrs. Nkiruka Onyejeocha, said the “NCAA clearly committed an illegality and breached the 1999 Constitution by spending without appropriation by the National Assembly.”
The committee later ruled that Oduah must appear unfailingly on Tuesday.
“Our ruling is that the minister must be here on Tuesday,” Onyejeocha said. She directed the NCAA to also appear on Tuesday with all its bank statements.
Source:Punch
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