N255m car scandal: Matters Arising

Even Jonathan himself knows one thing is clear, he knows this was a very wrong move. However as to whether he is trying to shift away from Oduah, I doubt that very much. I say this because if you have been following the revelations in the media since all this blew open, you will know that she is one of the most powerful woman in Jonathan's life. One of his most reliable. Again am sure that whoever recommended her must be powerful and so the person will say, Jonathan, you are the president just fix it anyhow but keep her there. Smart Jonathan am sure he knows this is one big wrong step.

N255m car scandal: Finally, Jonathan moves against StellaOduah

President Goodluck Jonathan may have finally succumbed to public pressure to move against the embattled Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, who is currently being probed over the N255m bulletproof cars bought for her by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority.The development came to the fore with the last-minute decision to stop Oduah from signing the much-publicised Bilateral Air Services Agreement with Israel.The ceremony was given by Presidency officials as the main purpose of her inclusion in the President’s entourage to Israel for this year’s Christian pilgrimage.In her stead, Minister of State I, Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, signed the agreement on behalf of the Federal Government while the Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr. Zeer Elkin, signed on behalf of the Israeli government.Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, after releasing a photograph on Monday on the signing ceremony, issued a statement in which he confirmed that Onwuliri signed on behalf of the government.Abati did not however explain why Oduah was not allowed to sign the agreement despite the fact that the photograph released by her aides showed that she was present at the event.The President had come under criticisms for allowing the minister to be on his entourage at a time he set up a three-member panel to investigate the purchase of the cars.A top Presidency source on the entourage of the President in Israel told our correspondent on the telephone that the decision to stop Oduah from signing the agreement was taken shortly after Jonathan arrived in Israel.That same reason, he added, informed the decision of the President’s aides to keep the minister away from the President since their arrival in the country.The Special Adviser on Media to Oduah, Mr. Joe Obi, had on October 22 said in statement that the minister travelled to Israel to sign the pact. Two days after, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr. George Ossi, told the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation that Oduah could not appear before it because she “was leading the Nigerian delegation to Israel to sign the BASA.”A former Minister of Aviation, Mr.Femi Fani-Kayode, who shed light on the development, said Jonathan must have prevented her from signing the BASA because of the situation she was in.He said, “BASA is supposed to be signed by the aviation minister or she could delegate it to the permanent secretary in the ministry. The agreement has nothing to do with the Foreign Affairs Ministry. I signed quite a few during my tenure.”• Oduah, NCAA chiefs risk five years in jailBefore Abati’s statement, the House Committee on Public Procurement had said in Abuja that Oduah, and officials of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority risked five-year jail term if found guilty of breaching procurement regulations in the purchase of the bulletproof cars.The committee Chairman, Ms Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, who accused the minister of shunning 12 invitations previously extended to her by the committee, explained that the Public Procurement Act clearly spelt out the penalty for any breach.Section 58 (5) of the Act states, “Any persons, who, while carrying out his duties as an officer of the Bureau or any procuring entity who contravenes any provision of this Act, commits an offence and is liable to a conviction of cumulative punishment of (a) a term of imprisonment of not less than five calendar years without any option of fines and (b) summary dismissal from government services.Okoya-Thomas dismissed the explanation by the NCAA that the cars were procured through a lease agreement and pointed out that no government official or agency could claim to be ignorant of the provisions of the Act.According to her, what is important is that since public money was involved, its spending must follow legal procedure.She added, “Argument about lease purchase does not hold as long as they are going to pay with public funds and to say that the NCAA is within the threshold makes it look like splitting the budget, which is another case on its own under the Procurement law.“Our committee has the responsibility to oversight BPP and since the core objective of public procurement is to ascertain value for money, we have been having issues with the Ministry of Aviation and agencies under it for sometime now.“It may interest you to know that we have issued out not less than 12 invitations to the Minister of Aviation, but she has not deemed it fit to respond even for once.“She has always been giving us one excuse or the other. Apart from the fact that there are issues on the rehabilitation of airports around the country over issues of value for money, which Nigerians are not getting, if she had taken her time to honour our invitation, maybe she would have been able to avoid this issue of threshold.“What these heads of agencies don’t realise is that when we send out letters like that, it is not to intimidate them but to rub minds and enlighten them on the nitty-gritty of the provisions of procurement laws.“If she had been honouring our invitations, by now a lot of things would have been known to her and she would not have found herself in this situation.”• Minister now to appear before Reps WednesdayEarlier on Monday, the House Committee on Aviation, which is investigating the car scandal, said the minister would no longer appear before it on Tuesday (today) as earlier scheduled.The committee , headed by Mrs. Nkiruka Onyejeocha, abruptly put off the hearing through a statement on Monday, claiming that it was to give all the stakeholders the opportunity to prepare their documents.The panel had adjourned hearing on Thursday last week till today.However, findings indicated that the committee came under pressure to postpone the hearing after Oduah reportedly made “a passionate appeal” to be allowed to appear on Wednesday.She was said to have explained that she was still in Israel where she had gone to sign the BASA with Israel.Sources close to the committee confided in The PUNCH that a representative of the embattled minister “begged for her to be allowed to appear on Wednesday instead of Tuesday.”One of the sources added, “What we hear is that she made appeals.“She is still in Israel and it is not clear what time the agreement will be signed today (Monday) for her to fly down to Nigeria on Tuesday to attend the hearing.“Since her appearance is the main issue left before the committee, the members also considered that it was wise to give her till Wednesday to appear.”The new twist is different from the tough stance the committee took on Thursday when Onyejeocha ruled that “the minister must appear unfailingly on Tuesday; wether she is in Nigeria or not.”The committee, through its Clerk, Mr. Abubakar Chana, said the postponement was to give all stakeholders the opportunity to put their documents in order and make detailed presentations.Part of the statement reads, “This is to notify all stakeholders and the general public that the Public Hearing of the House Committee on Aviation on the purchase of two BMW cars by the NCAA earlier slated for Tuesday, October 29, 2013 has been postponed to Wednesday, October 30, 2013.“This is to allow ample time for the invited agencies to put their documents together…”The committee wrote a separate letter to Oduah on Monday, which confirmed that the postponement of the hearing was to give her some grace.The letter by Chana indicated that the committee received a letter from the minister on Monday explaining why she was unable to attend the hearing.The committee complained that her non-appearance was delaying the investigation, adding that it was forced to reschedule the hearing till Wednesday.It warned that failure to attend tomorrow’ session would leave the committee with no option but “to enforce the appropriate laws and apply necessary sanctions.”The letter reads in part, “I am further directed to inform you that your inability to appear before the committee has become a serious constraint to the committee, as the House of Representatives has mandated the committee to submit its report within one week.“More so, the committee has been utterly gracious for postponing the hearing to Wednesday, October 30, 2013.“It is the directive of the House that you should appear on the rescheduled date.”• We didn’t appropriate funds for controversial carsAlso in Abuja, the Senate said it did not appropriate funds to the NCAA for the purchace of bulletproof vehicles for Oduah.The Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodima, made the clarification at a public hearing where the managements of the NCAA and the National Aviation Management Authority defended their roles in the Associated Airlines plane crash in Lagos on October 3.Uzodima noted that findings by the committee indicated that the NCAA appeared to have lost its freedom to the Ministry of Aviation.He also expressed surprise when the NCAA Director-General, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, could not justify the purchase of the bulletproof cars on the grounds that the transaction was concluded before he assumed office.• Quit, S’East, S’South professionals tell ministerEarlier on Monday, the South-East and South-South Professionals Forum had called on Oduah to step aside in the face of mounting protests over her role in the purchase of the bulletproof cars.It expressed disappointment over the scandal rocking the Aviation industry which is under Oduah’s watch.The forum’s President , Emeka Ugwu-Oju, spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting organised to marshal their position on the national dialogue in Benin, Edo State.Ugwu-Oju said, “We are not saying she is guilty but for what has happened in the ministry under her watch, it is clear the ministry could afford such money for some frivolous purposes. It is a wrong thing to do and somebody has to take responsibility.“We are of the view that the current minister of aviation should go. She is going not because she is found culpable but we are looking at the overall picture of values.“The honourable thing for her to do is to step aside and go.”• NDF says probe panel a ruseIn Minna, Niger State, a pro-democracy group, the National Democratic Forum, said the committee set up by Jonathan to probe the scandal lacked the courage to carry out the assignment.The group described the committee as a ploy to shield and provide a safe landing for the Aviation minister.Its position was contained in a statement by its National Co-ordinator, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, and Secretary, Eze Kalu.In the statement issued after its 47th Congress in Minna, the group said it believed that the committee would not do a thorough investigation because of fear of ridiculing the Executive arm of government.The forum, which wants an independent panel to probe the purchase of the cars, advised that the minister and the Principal Officers of the NCAA be suspended immediately.The statement added, “ We doubt if the Presidency has the courage to really probe Oduah.“It is on record that the so-much touted fight against corruption by this administration is a ruse. Its penchant to cover the ‘sins’ of some sacred cows is legendary. If this administration could pardon Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and sweep the House of Representatives bribery scam under the carpet, one should not expect anything positive from the latest panel.Punch- See more at: http://thebusinessdispatch.com/n255m-car-scandal-finally-jonathan-moves-against-stella-oduah/#sthash.ketrD83D.dpuf

Republished-Stella Oduah in fresh trouble; N255m armoured cars missing in NSA’s security list

Suspicion that Aviation Minister Stella Oduah might not have actually procured the controversial N255million armoured cars is gaining traction in the nation’s security circle, with operatives trying to understand whether the minister merely masterminded a paper process to launder public funds.

PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today that the bullet-proof cars are not on government’s official list of armoured cars available anywhere in the country.

Car dealers as well as end users of reinforced cars such as those Mrs. Oduah claimed to have procured to ward off “imminent threats”, are mandated to seek authorization from the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, before ordering or importing such vehicles into Nigeria.

Under that regulation, no car dealer or end user, including private individuals, security agencies, and government parastatals can bring in armoured cars into the country without obtaining end user certificates from the office of the NSA in Abuja.

But reliable sources at the office of the NSA told PREMIUM TIMES no authorization certificate was ever issued to either Minister Oduah or the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to procure the controversial vehicles. “We have thoroughly checked our list and I can confirm that at no time did we issue end user certificate to anyone to procure any such cars,” one of our sources said. “It is likely the cars do not exist and that the documents were either forged to steal public funds. But if the cars indeed exist, the minister, the NCAA and Coscharis Motors will have to explain why they sneaked vehicles into our country without authorization.

“It is a serious violation, and the minister and other people involved have a lot of explanations to make.” Another source said the the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, was appointed into the three-member administrative panel appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan to probe the procurement of the cars specifically to determine whether the purchase of the vehicles did not breach Nigeria’s security regulations.

Contacted Thursday over the matter, Mr. Dasuki said he would not comment on any aspect of his committee’s work because he is not the chairman of the panel.

“My office is only serving as the committee’s secretariat,” Mr. Dasuki said. “I am not the chairman. And you have to wait for us to complete our work. The question you asked (whether end user certificate was issued for the vehicles) is one of the issues we will look into.”

Although the NSA was evasive, top officials of his office told this newspaper that an internal review had long established that the controversial Stella Oduah’s cars are not on the lists of armoured cars known to the authorities. This new finding raises more doubt as to whether the cars were procured reinforced, a reason the aviation ministry cited for the alarming cost of the automobiles, or whether the cars were even bought at all. There are suggestions the ministers and the NCAA prepared the documents in circulation to cover up the looting of public funds.

That suggestion is strengthened by the refusal of the NCAA and the minister to allow PREMIUM TIMES access to inspect the cars despite initially claiming the vehicles were open to viewing by interested journalists. The purchase of the cars have also been found to violate Nigeria’s appropriation and procurement laws: the transaction was neither in government budget nor was it advertised or openly bided for. The contract cost is also believed to have been inflated multiple folds.

Together, the violations have added to widespread outrage over the relevance of a multimillion car purchase when majority of Nigerians cannot feed. Still, a more distressing possibility could be that the cars were never purchased, and the deal was only sealed on paper as a cover for money laundering.

The ministry of aviation and the NCAA, the agency directed by Mrs Oduah to make the purchase for her, claim the two BMW sedans were bought steel-clad to keep Mrs Oduah safe from “imminent threats”. The NCAA director general, Fola Akinkuotu, said the practice of using reinforced cars for conveying aviation ministers and foreign aviation dignitaries-who he said were also beneficiaries of the cars-was a standard global practice. Amid mounting calls for Mrs Oduah’s removal, and for sanctions against all aviation officials involved in the scam, President Goodluck Jonathan named a three-member committee Wednesday to review the contract and submit its findings in 14 days.

Separately, the minister, alongside NCAA officials, as well as officials of Coscharis motors, the suppliers of the cars, and First Bank Plc, the financiers, are to appear before the House of Representatives standing aviation committee. The director general, Bureau of Public Procurement, is also expected to attend the hearing. Mrs. Oduah jetted out to Israel on Tuesday, travelling with President Goodluck Jonathan for pilgrimage in Jerusalem. She was not available for the House hearing Thursday. More inconsistencies

The House hearing established, to a large extent, that the purchase of the cars were clearly against government regulations and laws.

Also, PREMIUM TIMES careful perusal of the contract papers revealed even more conflicting details about the transaction, with recorded dates and figures contradicting each other. While the NCAA purportedly originated the contract in August, with the first letter of order to Coscharis written on the 13th of that month, documents originating from the car firm show that the deal was long sealed in June and the car released at the same time.

The vehicle release checklist by Coscharis Motors was signed on June 25 with all basic functions of the cars approved as being in order. There is also discrepancy in the contract sum. While Coscharis Motors listed the two cars as costing N225 million on the Goods Received Note of August 14, the NCAA approved N255 million, a difference of N30 million. In all of Coscharis documents, nowhere was the figure N255 million used.

premiumtime

Pictures-Rihanna go naked for GQ Magazine!

Republished Oduah: We’re shocked – Kinsmen

The kinsfolk of embattled Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, have said they are surprised at the groundswell of public opinion running against their most prominent daughter. The people of Akili-Ozizor in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anamba State told Saturday PUNCH that as far as they were concerned, the minister is the best thing that has happened to them. They said she has not only regularly empowered young people and widows, the minister has built schools and churches for them. They listed some of the projects she has done for the community to include the building of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, the rehabilitation of the Josephine Oduah Secondary School and the provision of a borehole. One of the chiefs, Boniface Osakwe, who is the Onya of Akili-Ozizor, told Saturday PUNCH that Oduah’s philanthropy extends beyond the community to the entire Ogbaru l Local Government Area, spanning all the towns located along the lower bank of the River Niger in Anambra State. Osakwe wondered why she was being persecuted in an office that she will leave one day.

“Is it because she is a woman? Other people had been in that office. She will leave one day and another person will occupy it,” Osakwe wondered.

The President General of Akili-Ozizor Town Union, Mr. Chukwudi Igwe, simply said Oduah “is a very good woman.”

He would not be dragged into commenting on the raging car scandal circulating about the minister. “I don’t know about that. All I know is that she has been helping our people,” he added.

One young man from the community, Mr. Chidozie Ogbaekwe, said he was surprised about the car scandal. “If they bought the cars for her, she will use them now. Any problem with that?” he asked.

Ogbaekwe who said many indigent members of the community have benefited from scholarships from Oduah, however pointed out that the woman was yet to fulfil the promise she made to him about buying him a motorcycle.

“I am hoping that when she comes in December, she will give me my own motorcycle,” he said.

Oduah’s image looms large over the small and rustic community located on the bank of the River Niger. From Uga Junction, 30km away from Onitsha, where commercial motorcycles ferry people to Akili-Ozizor and other towns in Ogbaru, all the visitors need to tell the cyclists is take me to Stella’s House.

Her father, John Oduah, was the traditional ruler of the community. Her mother was the Omu, a title and office Stella has since inherited.

The only asphalt road veering off the main road in the community leads to her expansive estate, which she shares with the workers of her contracting company.

She is currently erecting a huge country home on about two hectares of land, not far from her older estate.

Last year, her entire home was submerged in the flood disaster that ravaged all the riverine communities in Anambra State.

Punch

- See more at: http://thebusinessdispatch.com/oduah-were-shocked-kinsmen/#sthash.mEJB8Wf3.dpuf

Republished-Two planes collide at Lagos airport

There was a minor accident on Friday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, involving a Turkish Airline aircraft and a Max Air plane. The Turkish Airline plane wings collided with that of Max Air plane which had brought in Pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the Turkish Airplane had landed safely but was taxiing to stop at the airport’s apron when its wing collided with that of Max Air.

The collision resulted in minor damages to both airplanes and sources said they had been taken away for repairs.

An online newspaper said the Spokesman, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke, confirmed the incident. He however said damages to the aircraft belonging to both airlines were minor and that both planes had been taken away for repairs.

A similar incident occurred last year in Jos, Plateau State, when an Arik plane wings brushed an Airforce jet parked at the apron when the plane was taxiing to stop. There was also no casualty in the incident but only damages to both planes.

Punch

- See more at: http://thebusinessdispatch.com/two-planes-collide-at-lagos-airport/#sthash.kNvGJxJ1.dpuf

Pictures-The British Royal Family, The Monarch and the future three to the throne

Four generations: The current monarch, surrounded by Britain's three future figureheads

Segun Agbede speak for Stephen Keshi

Well I think he is known for his openness and blunt style of speaking. The only issue with the below tweet by Segun Agbede, one of Nigerias leading sport analyst is that I don't know if he is directing it at the Nigeria government or the NFF. I ask because I don't know who is supposed to pay Keshi's salary.  The government or NFF abi na all join matter? I dey laugh ooo what a country!!!

	Segun Agbede (@SegunThePundit)
10/25/13, 7:51 AM Pay Keshi's salary. If an insanely avaricious minister can buy 2 cars for $1.6m, why can't we afford to pay our AFCON winning coach?

My best published story for today The Women In Jonathan’s Life By:Azubuike Ishiekwene

Like it or leave it, this is simply well outlined, well presented, well portrayed. Read it and may be you will see in between the lines and not just read in between it. I need you to see lol

Like him or hate him, no one can deny that President Goodluck Jonathan is a man that women love to love. Of course, he is not the first Nigerian head of state or president in recent history to give women very important roles in government. Military president Ibrahim Babangida thought that urban women were all over the map, so he promised rural women better life, which ironically boiled down to a glamorous office for the first lady.President Olusegun Obasanjo had a different style. A man with legendary testosterone, he had no need to make any special public statements about where he stood on the psychedelia of women empowerment. He looked for women, found and invited them and gave them very prominent roles in his government.There have been malicious stories about how Obasanjo sometimes allowed his libido get ahead of the task, but it is generally believed that once he gave his appointees a job to do, on the whole, he did not get in the way. Who can deny that the Nenadi Usmans, the Oby Ezekwesilis and the Okonjo-Iwealas first made their mark in public service under Obasanjo? Or that these women were behind the first real attempt to change the face of accountability in public finance?Jonathan wanted more for women. And he promised more. He said women would fill 35 per cent of cabinet posts and he hasn’t done badly to deliver. Either because of his emphasis on women or as a result of sheer statistical freak, a number of women in and around his government appear to have the equivalent or greater force of Jonathan’s entire cabinet combined. Even if Jonathan doesn’t make history as the first Nigerian president to hire the greatest number of women in his government, he could become the first women’s hostage-in-chief.Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission DG, Arunma Oteh, and the House of Representatives traded allegations of bribery. When the dust settled, the legislature produced a report that indicted both its own member, Herman Hembe, who was chair of the SEC committee, and Oteh. Under fire, the House of Reps removed Hembe as committee chair. Despite calls for Oteh’s removal, including outright refusal by the legislature to appropriate revenue for SEC, the president has stood by his woman.If Oteh was a test case of the president’s oedipal complex, the case of the petroleum resources minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, is in a class by itself. I don’t know what it is about Diezani that makes her so vulnerable and so unflappable all at once. But I know she has changed a good deal from the federal transport minister who once wept publicly at the scrappy state of the Benin-Shagamu expressway.That was under the presidency of Umaru Yar’Adua. Jonathan later moved her from mines and power to petroleum, and the word out there is that the sweet smell of crude oil has dried away every tear from her eyes. Her ministry is one of the intersections in the famous Bermuda Triangle – the other two being the ministries of Aviation and Finance.On her watch, the price of oil has hardly slipped below $100 per barrel, yet the government can hardly pay its bills, while crude oil theft has reached an industrial scale. The increasingly difficult business environment is forcing international oil companies to scale back or fold up, yet the Petroleum Industry Bill, the framework that is supposed to reinvent the sector, leaves the minister with even more discretionary powers.But the woman will not leave. Even if the roads in Abuja were paved with petitions against Diezani, the president would ride them without taking notice. He has said most of the petitions are spurious and politically motivated; he’ll stand by his woman.Today, the president is doing pretty much the same for Diezani’s political cousin and aviation minister, Stella Oduah. It would be uncharitable to say she has a death wish for aviation, but each step she takes leaves you wondering if it could be otherwise. She must be very good at many other things in life, obviously including being one of the president’s most valuable fundraisers. After two plane crashes that claimed over 200 lives and a dozen near-misses in two years, I’m unable to understand why she still retains her office. Not even the scandal about two BMW cars that Oduah purchased for $1.6million (N255m) would make the president mad enough to free himself from being the women’s hostage-in-chief.How could he? The madam-in-chief, Dame Patience Faka Jonathan, has declared that Diezani and Stella are the best things to have happened to this government. Given the testy relationship, which insiders say exists between Diezani and Dame Jonathan, I’m not sure that was supposed to be a compliment. But who can dismiss the opinion of the dame or even claim ability to figure her out?One thing is sure: It’s almost impossible to even try to understand the role of gender power in this administration without paying tribute to the indomitable essence of the dame. She is President Jonathan’s defining gift to gender science; the talisman of the most durable ministers, male or female, performing or non-performing.Her extraordinary power and influence are secrets known and shared not only by many of the women in cabinet who are obviously from Mars, but also by their male colleagues from Venus who pay regular visits to the other side to be in Madam’s good books. In Jonathan’s world, Mars rules.Still On The Road To KoreaLast week, I wrote a sidepiece wondering why the heck First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan was getting an award from a South Korean university when Nigerian universities had been on strike for four months. Inside sources told me during the week that the award may be part of a “thank you” arranged by two South Korean firms – Korea Electricity Power Corporation, which recently bought the Egbin Power Plant for $450million, and the Samsung Heavy Industries, which won the $4billion Floating Production Storage Offload deal.FPSO is a special ship that produces oil offshore and transships onto a vessel, and this one promises to be a vessel with a 120-room hotel. It’s a gold field. Even though Hyundai came tops in the technical and commercial bids for the FPSO, powerful figures had swung the bid in favour of Samsung. Heads or tails, Korea wins…the local partners get the crumbs, the first lady an award and the rest of us get a whitewashed deal. What a country!

Minister of Aviation approved purchase of cars herself not NASS –NCAA

This particular case has hook them in the throat and they really can't push it away. More so because people are being arrested and detained for exercising their ultimate sovereignty role. Or has some one in government forgotten that the people, yes the masses are the ultimate sovereign in any democracy? That is some thing we will talk about in detail some day. Back to the issue at hand, I ask, why is the Aviation minister not on suspension yet? At least pending full hearing and investigation. I ask because the office of the Aviation minister can not be operated in a questionable manner and pending the moment of her crisis, we can't deal with another plane crash due to over concentration on an already settle issue with a non concentrating minister. The issue has judged itself, all what we now see are mere demonstration of text book script. I believe the minister should stay suspended pending her investigation. My comment is following the story below

Management of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) admitted in Abuja before the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation on Thursday that the controversial purchase of N255 million two bulletproof vehicles allegedly for Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, was done without appropriation by the National Assembly.The agency told the committee at an investigative hearing that approval for the vehicles was obtained from the minister’s office.For more than five hours the management laboured to explain to the committee members how the prices of the vehicles were inflated along the line of purchase, as the NCAA in its memo to the minister claimed that they were sold at N70 million each, but eventually paid a little over N127 million each for the cars.But it denied buying the vehicles for the use of the Aviation Minister, just as it declined comments on whether the minister or any minister in Nigeria is allowed by law to use such vehicles as official cars.Joyce Nkemakolam, who was the Acting Director General of NCAA at the time, spoke at the hearing.Nkemakolam was asked to take the stage when the substantive DG of NCAA, Fola Akinkuotu, exonerated himself from the transaction, as he said the process was started and concluded before he assumed office in August.Equally, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) also washed its hands off the process of the procurement, as it told the committee that the NCAA did not inform it, nor seek permission before the contract for the purchase of the vehicles was awarded.The House committee is investigating the circumstances under which the car purchase was made.Nkemakolam said the NCAA in executing the 2013 budget had purchased 54 operational vehicles whereas the National Assembly approved only 25.The total sum approved in the 2013 budget for the vehicles was N240 million but the agency has committed N643 million to the purchase of operational vehicles, he added.Members of the committee on their part noted that the security vehicles approved for the NCAA were for the monitoring of the perimeter fences of the airport for which the BMW bulletproof is not suitable.The committee also reminded the agency that its initial 2013 budget proposal only contained the request for bulletproof vehicles which was rejected at the point of budget defence.Nkemakolam in his testimony corroborated the position of the committee on the rejection of the proposals for the purchase of the bulletproof cars.He, however, told the committee that proposal for purchase of the vehicles was written to the Minister of Aviation and was duly approved.While defending himself, Nkemakolam said all the vehicles bought for 2013 were funded by a bank and that payments on the vehicles, including the bullet-proof vehicles, were being made to the bank on monthly installment of N23 million.In the document before the committee, the agency admitted that the 2013 budget approved five Toyota Hilux pickups, 10 Toyota Corolla cars, five Toyota Lancruiser jeeps, three Toyota Hiace buses, all at a cost of N240 million but eventually bought 54 vehicles through the bank lease for N643 million which was financed by the bank.It was also discovered by the committee that the financing agreement between the agency and the bank showed that the NCAA was to repay the sum with an interest of about N500 million within the repayment plan period of 36 months.Two months’ installments on the repayment, the agency said, have been made to the financing bank.When asked by the committee on the propriety of committing the 2014 and 2015 budgets to repayment of excess debts incurred illegally in the process of implementing the 2013 budget, the agency could not provide any answer.The BPP, in its testimony, denied knowledge of the transaction, as it claimed that NCAA did not carry it along during the process of contract award and execution period.According to the BPP, which was represented by a director, the NCAA did not send any letter to it nor receive any certificate of no objection from the BPP before the contract for the purchase of the vehicles was awarded and executed.The BPP also put to lie the claim by the NCAA that an approved Civil Society Organisation (CSO) appointed by the BPP in tandem with the law, monitored the bid opening.According to BPP, the CSO attached to NCAA, Cope Africa, did not attend the bid opening, as it was engaged in another advocacy assignment in Ondo State at the time.The BPP also faulted the claim by NCAA that the lease agreement entered into by the NCAA and the financing bank did not need approval of BPP, as earlier claimed by the NCAA.According to the BPP, since the transaction involves government fund one way or the other, the BPP, by law, must be involved in the process of the contract award.Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, and the management of Coscharis Motors that supplied the vehicles are expected to show up at the committee sitting next Tuesday.daily independent.