Oduah - N255m Cars Were Not Bought For Me

MINISTER of Aviation,Princess Stella
Oduah Thursday told members of
the House of Representatives
Committee on Aviation that the
alleged purchase of N255million
BMW armoured cars were not
bought for her personal use.
Oduah who astonished stakeholders
with this disclosure at the
investigative hearing on the issue in
her 12 page presentation said:
“As you all are aware, what
necessitated this public hearing were
the events that followed a false and
malicious online publication that I
had compelled the NCAA to
purchase for me 2 nos BMW bullet
proof cars at the cost of $1.6million.
”
“Let me state emphatically that from
the onset that the allegation
concerning the purchase of the 2
nos bullet proof cars for me by the
NCAA is false in its entirety. ”
After reading her presentation, Rep
Zakari Lafia Mohammed asked her
whether it is a loan or lease that her
agency obtained from FBN, she said
it is the same. She said the money
NCAA would pay would still be
below the N240million at the end of
the year.
On whether she acted within the
ambit of the law in giving approval
beyond N100 million , she said she
approved the money and asked the
NCAA to do the needfull.
What is the needfull?
The Committee and the minister
disagreed on what do the needfull
meant.
She had claimed that in her approval
she said kindly do the needfull.
Rep Mohammed took on her that
saying the needfull means a go
ahead to implement.
Responding, Oduah said”no you are
wrong on that the needfull does not
mean full approval. ”
The NCAA DG Folu Akinkuotu was
asked whether he did the needfull,
he said he was not In-charge at
NCAA when the order was given for
the purchase.
The permanent secretary of the
Ministry, George Ossi was tackled for
misleading the minister by not
appropriately advising her.
The committee said the permanent
secretary ought to have asked the
NCAA to do the right thing.
The PS claimed that due diligence
ought to have been done by the
agency before applying for the
approval.
He claimed that he was not available
at the time everything happened .
The DG said he would have followed
the procurement Act if he were the
one the directive was given to do the
needfull.
He said the acting DG Joyce Daniel
Nkemakolam ought to explain why
he did not do that.
Nkemakolam said we interpreted the
directive to mean to go through it in
line with the procurement Act. He
said they did the due diligence but
they had a mindset that they were
within the budget limit.
But he was asked why he didn’t do
due diligence to ensure that it was
in tandem with the procurement
law, he said he thought since the
agency had got the approval of the
National Assembly there was no
need for such diligence.
He was asked why he initiated a
memo to approve 54 vehicles when
what the National assembly
approved was 25 vehicles.
He was reminded that what was
approved was N240million and not
N643million.
NCAA was asked whether the board
sought approval of the president to
approve the car loan. Nkemakolam
said he was working on the mindset
that they were still within the
approved limit.
He said that what NCAA discussed
with First bank was a lease. He was
asked the date the board of NCAA
approved the loan facility.
The DG was asked how many
trainings did he organise for NCAA
staff , he said he relied on experts.
He said that his mindset has always
being that they did not exceed the
amount approved.
He was asked whether the NCAA
board approved the money.
He said the NCAA has interim board.
He said that he was working on
account that it was a lease not loan.
The drama continued with Rep
Manwe asking the former DG of
NCAA to disclose who uses the
controversial bullet proof cars since
the Minister bluntly confessed that
they were not bought for her use.
“Who is using the vehicles now since
the Minister said they were not
purchased for her?” he asked.
To the DG, that was one question
that got him jolted. Minutes passed
before he could provide an answer.
And when he finally found his voice,
he said “Anybody can use the
vehicles when they are in the pool.
They are operational vehicles.”
But the Lawmaker wouldn’t give up.
He continued with a rider to the
question.
“Do you mean that a messenger or
cleaner in the agency can use the
cars?” He asked.
At this juncture, the hearing room
became deadened in silence with the
DG losing his voice for the second
time.
And when again, he found it, he
answered this way: “those categories
of vehicles are for VIPs which
include the Minister, including you,
the Honorable.”
Just then a blast of laughter erupted
in the hall which to some extent
provided some comic relief to
everyone in the hall.
But Rep Manwe wouldn’t stop. He
asked again, “can we have the log
book of the movement of the car?
With a subdued babbling voice
which came in separate minutes, the
DG answered ” I am not a transport
officer. I don’t know whether they
are still keeping those log books.”
When it now became obvious that
the DG was exhaustive of all the
answers he had, the Lawmakers
mandated the agency to bring the
man who received the vehicles at the
point of delivery by Coscharis
Motors.
With that, the hearing came to a
close.
In her closing remark, the
chairperson, Onyejeocha assured
Nigerians that justice would be done
to the report of the hearing.
“Fact speak for itself. We have tried
to listen to people: Coscharis, the
Minister, NCAA, First Bank , BPP and
Customs, and we have their
submissions with us. We will
consider what we have whether it is
in line with the extant laws and
financial regulations.
We assure everyone and all Nigerian
that we will do justice to this
hearing,” Onyejeocha said.
Speaking with some Journalists
shortly after the hearing, the
Minister, Oduah expressed gratitude
to the National Assembly for giving
her an opportunity to present her
own side of the story

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