- Oduah risks 5-year jail term, has pending issues –Reps
- President stops her from signing bilateral treaty with Israel
The House of Representatives' Committee on Public Procurement, declared yesterday that Aviation Minister, Ms. Stella Oduah, and ministry officials involved in the controversial purchase of two bulletproof BMW cars for N255m, risk five years jail term without an option of fines.
The chairman of the committee, Ms. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas (APC-Lagos), said this yesterday in a chat with select journalists. Okoya-Thomas whose position was based on the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, however, noted that no agency of government would claim to be ignorant of the provisions of the law.
While speaking with reporters at the National Assembly, the lawmaker said without attempting to preempt the ongoing investigative hearing on the procurement, the minister would also answer questions from the Committee on Public Procurement..
She also took a swipe at President Jonathan for what she described as" his half-hearted fight against corruption." According to her, "Section 58 (5) of the Public Procurement Act states that '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 offense 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.
"I did not put this law there, but the will to implement it is key to sanity in this country and to check excesses. "Argument of lease purchase does not hold as long as they are going to pay with public funds and to say that NCAA is within the threshold makes it look like splitting the budget, which is another case on its own under the Procurement law."
Okoya-Thomas disclosed that Oduah has issues bordering on procurement with her committee, which she said the minister has ignored more than 12 times. "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 sometimes now.
"It might 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.
"There is no doubt that she has a case to answer with the BPP Committee." She blamed the executive for "deliberately weakening the BPP" as well as refusing to comply with the Procurement Law on the issue of the Bureau's Board. According to Committee Chairman, government cannot absolve itself in the weakening of the powers of the BPP as the agency lacks the capacity to carry out its functions. According to her, the BPP should not be held responsible for failure to monitor all government agencies.
Also, the House of Representatives' Committee on Aviation has rescheduled to October 30, the public hearing on the purchase of the armoured cars earlier slated for October 29.
This is contained in a statement issued by the clerk of the committee, Malam Abubakar Chana in Abuja on Monday. The statement said the shift was to allow enough time for the invited agencies to put their documents together. "This is to notify all stakeholders and the general public that day 2 Public Hearing of House Committee on Aviation on the purchase of two BMW cars by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, 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 statement stated. The House had summoned Oduah to appear before it on October 29 and clarify her role in the controversial purchase of the two BMW cars allegedly for her use.
Meanwhile, the minister was yesterday denied the signing of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement, BASA, on behalf of Nigeria with Israel. The denial may not be unconnected with the ongoing controversy over the purchase of N255m armoured cars. Oduah had last week's Tuesday travelled to Israel aboard British Airways, preparatory to the signing of the agreement with Israel.
Rather than signing the agreement as the minister in the sector, President Jonathan, our correspondent gathered, directed the acting Foreign Minister, Prof. Viola Onwuliri to sign the agreement on behalf of Nigeria in Jerusalem. Although, Oduah was in attendance, but she did not perform any role at the signing ceremony as she observed most of the activities.
An online media monitored in Lagos stated that President Jonathan intentionally removed himself from the event, choosing to send Onwuliri to represent him. But two pictures sent by the spokesman for aviation parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Dati stated that Oduah signed for the country, but the pictures did not however revealed where Oduah signed the documents.
Rather, the pictures only revealed group photographs in which Oduah partook in. The Special Assistant, Media to Oduah, Mr. Joe Obi had stated that Oduah would sign the BASA on behalf of the country.
With the BASA agreement, airlines from both countries can now fly directly to each other's territory without stops-over in other destinations. Under the terms of this Agreement, Nigeria and the State of Israel will enjoy equal rights and privileges in the implementation of the BASA.
Before now, Nigerians travelling to Israel, including Christian pilgrims, stopped over in neighbouring countries before being finally transported to their destination. Onwuliri, after signing the agreement, said the accord would deepen bilateral ties between both countries and boost their economies.
"The agreement will augur well for movement of persons, our pilgrims, businessmen, academics, the civil society and students. Many of our people also come here to benefit from the technology of Israel," she said.
The minister also said that the agreement would make enormous impact on trade and investment, agriculture, construction, tourism, security and capacity building.
Meanwhile, NCAA yesterday insisted that it had no documents relating to the purchase of the two armoured vehicles to Oduah, but said it has documents relating to the Lease Finance arrangement for the procurement of operational, security and safety vehicles for the use of the authority as provided for in its 2013 appropriation. An online statement signed by the General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke insisted that the documents relating to the lease finance arrangement were already in public domain and have also been deposited with the various committees looking into the matter.
The statement added: "The public is hereby enjoined to discountenance the innuendoes, which tended to suggest that NCAA does not have documents at all regarding the bullet proof vehicles. "It must be made clear here that Mr. Femi Falana, (SAN) specifically requested for documents for the procurement of vehicles for the Honourable Minister of Aviation."
In another development, the Senate yesterday expressed concern at the age of some aircraft that are allowed by the regulatory authorities to fly the nation's air space, attributing the incessant air mishaps in the country to over-aged aircraft.
At an interactive meeting yesterday between members of the Senate Committee on Aviation and the chief executive officers of the agencies under the aviation ministry, chairman of the committee, Senator Hope Uzodinma in particular frowned at the license granted the Westlink airline to fly a 43-year-old aircraft.
The lawmaker urged the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to review the air operating license given to the said airline, with a view to terminating it. This was as another member of the committee, Senator Ali Ndume, suggested that aircraft that are more than 10 years should not be licensed by NCAA to fly the nation's air space.
But the Director General of NCAA, Fola Akinkuotu, promptly explained that the age of an aircraft has little or nothing to do with its air worthiness. He noted that some aircraft that are 35 years and above have been known to be air worthy and operate very well, noting that the age of an aircraft does not have direct consequence on its air worthiness rather the state of maintenance.
Moreover, the DG explained that if Nigeria maintains a regime of stringent laws regarding the age of aircraft that fly the nation's air space, it would deter would-be investors in the aviation sector.
Responding to questions on the associated airline plane that crashed last month and claimed over 15 lives, Akinkuotu expressed concern at the unfortunate incident but stated that his authority was constrained in divulging information about the crash since there is currently an on-going investigation on the accident. Moreover, he disclosed that both the International Civil Aviation Organisation rule and the Accident Investigation Bureau Act hamstrings NCAA from disclosing much information on the accident until investigations is fully completed on the matter.
This, he said, was more so, because such information may affect the insurance claims by the affected persons. He agreed with members of the committee that NCAA was committed to having a safe aviation system in Nigeria that will lead to a near zero air accident rate in the country.
Source: N255m armoured cars: More troubles for Aviation Minister (http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/n255m-armoured-cars-more-troubles-for-aviation-minister/)