House Probe: Oduah Approved N403m Above Budget for Cars

The vehicle purchase scandal rocking the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) got messier yesterday, as it emerged that the two BMW armoured cars and other operational vehicles bought by the agency gulped a total of N643 million, being N403 million above the N240 million stipulated in the 2013 Appropriation Act.

In the initial budget proposal submitted to the National Assembly, the NCAA had requested the sum of N140 million for the purchase of two bulletproof cars at the cost of N70 million per unit.

When this request was turned down, the parliament approved the sum of N240 million only for the purchase of operational vehicles.

However, evidence brought before the House Committee on Aviation probing the controversial armoured car deal yesterday showed that though the budget provided for a total of 25 operational vehicles, the NCAA turned around to procure a total of 54 vehicles, including the BMW armoured cars at triple the cost of what was provided in the budget for the vehicles.

Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, expressed anger that the NCAA committed public funds to such a deal in contravention of the budgetary approvals made by the National Assembly.

Onyejeocha and other members of the committee raised a number of questions as to the legality of the transaction and whether it followed due process.

However, at the opening of the investigation, there was some buck passing as the Director General, NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, said most of the decisions leading to the controversial purchases were made prior to his assumption of duty as the agency's boss.

The lot fell on the Director of Airspace   in NCAA, Mr. Joyce Nkemakonam, to explain the role of the agency since he was in the saddle when the decisions were made.

Nkemakonam's testimony raised a lot of dust when he insisted that the transaction followed due process as it received the approval of the Ministry of Aviation. He however had difficulties providing evidence for his claims.

He also had difficulties wriggling out of the questions pertaining to the flouting of the Appropriation Act and Section 80 of the Constitution.

In its testimony, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) told the committee that it had no information on the said purchase of the two bulletproof cars.
Mr. Ayo Adegbile, who represented the Director-General of BPP, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, said it had no documents to present because the purchases did not pass through the due process office as prescribed in the Public Procurement Act.

According to him, a procurement of that magnitude ought to have been passed and approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

He explained that going by the extant rules and a circular from the Secretary to the Head of Service of the Federation, procurement from N100 million upwards should be approved by FEC, while only those below that threshold could pass through ministerial tenders boards.

The committee had some initial problems deciding on whether or not to conduct the investigation in the absence of the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, who was away in Israel on official assignment.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. George Ossi, had explained that Oduah would not be available till after next Monday because she was away signing the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) deal with her counterpart in Israel.

Other stakeholders such as the Nigeria Customs Service and First Bank Nigeria Limited were also absent, while Coscharis Motors was partially represented but had no presentations because the firm got the invitation late and its top level managers were outside the country.

Given the absence of key invitees and the short notice, the Aviation Committee resolved that Oduah and these other stakeholders should appear before it to give oral and documentary evidence next Tuesday.