Minister of Aviation Stella Oduah yesterday admitted approving the purchase of 54 cars for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) which is outside what was approved by the National Assembly in the 2013 budget.
Oduah who testified on the third day of
the investigative hearing by the House of Representatives committee on
aviation into the purchase of armoured cars worth N255 million said due
process was followed in the procurement.
Oduah arrived venue of the hearing at exactly 11:37.am against the 10.am directed by the committee on Wednesday. She had cause to leave the venue for about ten minutes barely two minutes after her arrival.
She said the vehicles were provided for in the NCAA 2013 appropriation approved by the National Assembly and that the cars were not bought for her but for operations of the agency.
But the lawmakers insisted yesterday that they only approved N240 million for 25 vehicles in the NCAA’s 2013 budget. In the NCAA 2013 budget approval document of the National Assembly obtained by Daily Trust, the provisions for operational vehicles were Toyota pick-up Hilux, five units; Toyota Corolla, 10 units; Toyota Landcruiser, five units; Toyota Hiace bus, three units; security inspection vehicle, two units for safety/security purposes and inspection of perimeter fences, all at the sum of N240 million.
Oduah who took more than 30 minutes to present her position said: “In the last few weeks, I have received all sorts of bashings in the media. Many persons have also arisen to my defence. Many have abused me, some out of genuine sense of outrage that I allegedly spent the sum of USD1.6 million of government funds to purchase for myself 2 bullet-proof BMW for my personal use.
“There was nothing in the approved docu-ments reflecting my name, when the budget was being made. At no time did I ever request for any vehicle from the NCAA. It was the agency that had the need and made the request to the federal ministry of aviation.
“After the purchase on a 3 year lease financing arrangement, the vehicles were never delivered to me. The vehicles were also not registered in my name but that of the agency. All I did was to approve the request of the agency doing the needful as evidenced by my minutes on the letter dated 15th April,” she said.
Oduah added that, “on the procedure for the lease arrangement for the acquisition of the vehicles, let me reiterate that from the records available to me, it would appear that the NCAA followed the due process required. I have been made to understand that there exist no guidelines issued by the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) on lease financing.”
But the BPP in its submission to the committee last week said due process was not followed in the procurement process as the transaction did not come to its notice.
First Bank Plc also told the committee on Wednesday that the agreement it entered with NCAA was an auto loan arrangement and not lease financing.
When members of the committee inquired to know why Oduah approved more than the N100 million threshold by a minister, she said her directive was simply “Kindly do the needful.”
Rep Zakari Mohammed (PDP, Kwara) fur-ther asked her to explain what she meant by “Kindly do the needful,” saying she breached the law. But Oduah replied by saying “I’m sorry but your interpretation is wrong. What it meant was that they should do the necessary due diligence.”
Mohammed also told the minister that First Bank Plc had submitted that it was a loan agreement it entered with NCAA, but Oduah explained that both lease financing and loan agreement are the same. She said the agreement was a standard template used by First Bank, insisting that the amount to be paid by NCAA by year end would still be within the appropriated sum by the National Assembly.
At a point when the lawmakers asked the minister if armoured cars could be used for inspecting perimeter fencing, Oduah replied saying “I’m at a loss. Security cars are armoured cars and armoured cars are security cars.”
The committee asked Joyce Nkemakolom who was the acting DG of NCAA at the time of the contract to explain what they did when the minister approved and said they should do “the needful.”
In his explanation, Nkemakolom said because they had “a mindset that the National Assembly approved purchase of the cars,” they thought she meant they should go ahead and follow due process in acquisition. But a member of the committee Rep Jerry Mamwe (PDP, Taraba) accused him of misleading the minister by originating the request when he knew that NASS only approved 25 vehicles at the cost of N240 million.
Oduah also accused some individuals of causing her woes saying “The second category of commentators are the entrenched interests in the aviation sector, who for over 38 years have held the sector to the jugular and refused to allow any meaningful development and change to take place.”
Mamwe however said: “I disagree with the minister that the cars were approved by NASS. I don’t also agree with her that it was a lease financing agreement when First Bank told us yesterday (Wednesday) that it was an auto loan agreement. It’s either NCAA misled you or prepared the text for you to read.”
According to the lawmaker, there was a contradiction between the N100 million Oduah said NCAA would have paid to First Bank by December 31 when the bank itself said it is N116 million.
The lawmakers also observed that the amount said to have been approved by the minister in the NCAA request letter was about N564 million but the agency said the total sum for the transaction was N643 million.
The ex-acting DG Nkemakolom however said it was as a result of non-conclusion of the whole agreement at the beginning. The committee therefore accused him of misleading the minister. Chairperson of the committee Rep Nkiruka Onyejeocha (PDP, Abia) said at the end of the hearing that the committee had given fair hearing to all concerned and that they would consider all the submissions made in line with extant laws and financial regulations. The committee is expected to submit its report to the House on Tuesday next week.
Oduah arrived venue of the hearing at exactly 11:37.am against the 10.am directed by the committee on Wednesday. She had cause to leave the venue for about ten minutes barely two minutes after her arrival.
She said the vehicles were provided for in the NCAA 2013 appropriation approved by the National Assembly and that the cars were not bought for her but for operations of the agency.
But the lawmakers insisted yesterday that they only approved N240 million for 25 vehicles in the NCAA’s 2013 budget. In the NCAA 2013 budget approval document of the National Assembly obtained by Daily Trust, the provisions for operational vehicles were Toyota pick-up Hilux, five units; Toyota Corolla, 10 units; Toyota Landcruiser, five units; Toyota Hiace bus, three units; security inspection vehicle, two units for safety/security purposes and inspection of perimeter fences, all at the sum of N240 million.
Oduah who took more than 30 minutes to present her position said: “In the last few weeks, I have received all sorts of bashings in the media. Many persons have also arisen to my defence. Many have abused me, some out of genuine sense of outrage that I allegedly spent the sum of USD1.6 million of government funds to purchase for myself 2 bullet-proof BMW for my personal use.
“There was nothing in the approved docu-ments reflecting my name, when the budget was being made. At no time did I ever request for any vehicle from the NCAA. It was the agency that had the need and made the request to the federal ministry of aviation.
“After the purchase on a 3 year lease financing arrangement, the vehicles were never delivered to me. The vehicles were also not registered in my name but that of the agency. All I did was to approve the request of the agency doing the needful as evidenced by my minutes on the letter dated 15th April,” she said.
Oduah added that, “on the procedure for the lease arrangement for the acquisition of the vehicles, let me reiterate that from the records available to me, it would appear that the NCAA followed the due process required. I have been made to understand that there exist no guidelines issued by the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) on lease financing.”
But the BPP in its submission to the committee last week said due process was not followed in the procurement process as the transaction did not come to its notice.
First Bank Plc also told the committee on Wednesday that the agreement it entered with NCAA was an auto loan arrangement and not lease financing.
When members of the committee inquired to know why Oduah approved more than the N100 million threshold by a minister, she said her directive was simply “Kindly do the needful.”
Rep Zakari Mohammed (PDP, Kwara) fur-ther asked her to explain what she meant by “Kindly do the needful,” saying she breached the law. But Oduah replied by saying “I’m sorry but your interpretation is wrong. What it meant was that they should do the necessary due diligence.”
Mohammed also told the minister that First Bank Plc had submitted that it was a loan agreement it entered with NCAA, but Oduah explained that both lease financing and loan agreement are the same. She said the agreement was a standard template used by First Bank, insisting that the amount to be paid by NCAA by year end would still be within the appropriated sum by the National Assembly.
At a point when the lawmakers asked the minister if armoured cars could be used for inspecting perimeter fencing, Oduah replied saying “I’m at a loss. Security cars are armoured cars and armoured cars are security cars.”
The committee asked Joyce Nkemakolom who was the acting DG of NCAA at the time of the contract to explain what they did when the minister approved and said they should do “the needful.”
In his explanation, Nkemakolom said because they had “a mindset that the National Assembly approved purchase of the cars,” they thought she meant they should go ahead and follow due process in acquisition. But a member of the committee Rep Jerry Mamwe (PDP, Taraba) accused him of misleading the minister by originating the request when he knew that NASS only approved 25 vehicles at the cost of N240 million.
Oduah also accused some individuals of causing her woes saying “The second category of commentators are the entrenched interests in the aviation sector, who for over 38 years have held the sector to the jugular and refused to allow any meaningful development and change to take place.”
Mamwe however said: “I disagree with the minister that the cars were approved by NASS. I don’t also agree with her that it was a lease financing agreement when First Bank told us yesterday (Wednesday) that it was an auto loan agreement. It’s either NCAA misled you or prepared the text for you to read.”
According to the lawmaker, there was a contradiction between the N100 million Oduah said NCAA would have paid to First Bank by December 31 when the bank itself said it is N116 million.
The lawmakers also observed that the amount said to have been approved by the minister in the NCAA request letter was about N564 million but the agency said the total sum for the transaction was N643 million.
The ex-acting DG Nkemakolom however said it was as a result of non-conclusion of the whole agreement at the beginning. The committee therefore accused him of misleading the minister. Chairperson of the committee Rep Nkiruka Onyejeocha (PDP, Abia) said at the end of the hearing that the committee had given fair hearing to all concerned and that they would consider all the submissions made in line with extant laws and financial regulations. The committee is expected to submit its report to the House on Tuesday next week.
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