The
Ministry of Aviation has confirmed that the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority bought two bulletproof vehicles worth $1.6m (N255m) for the
Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah.
An online news medium, SaharaReporters, had reported on Tuesday that the armoured vehicles were delivered to the minister in August.
The medium reported that documents in
its possession showed that the transaction for the purchase of the two
BMW cars started in June, but the request for the delivery of and
payment for them was fast-tracked between August 13 and 15, 2013.
The transaction involved the NCAA, First Bank of Nigeria, and Coscharis Motors Limited, according to the report.
The two black BMW 760 Li HSS vehicles
had chasis numbers WBAHP41050DW68032 and WBAHP41010DW68044, and were
reportedly delivered to the NCAA on August 13, 2013. They were received
by two store managers, F. Onoabhagbe and Y. A. Amzat, who is also the
agency’s head of transport.
Meanwhile, two major air crashes have occurred under Oduah’s watch.
These were the Dana Air crash in Lagos
on June 3, 2012, in which 163 people died; and the Associated Airlines
crash of October 3, 2013, also in Lagos, which claimed 15 lives.
A day after the Associated Airlines’
crash, a Kabo Airlines’ Boeing 747-400 plane carrying 512 pilgrims made
an emergency landing at the Sokoto airport with deflated tyres and
damaged the airport’s Instrument Landing System.
On Sunday, an IRS Airlines Fokker 100
plane carrying 99 passengers also made an emergency landing at the
Kaduna airport, after developing hydraulic problems mid-air.
Four days after the tragic crash
involving Associated Airlines’ Embraer 120 plane, Oduah described air
accidents as God’s will that were inevitable.
She said notwithstanding this reality, the Federal Government would continue to ensure that there were no accidents.
The minister made the submission while fielding questions from State House correspondents on investigations into the crash.
The minister said, “We do not pray for
accidents but they are inevitable. But we will continue to do everything
to ensure that we do not have accidents. But an accident is an act of
God.
“Again, we do not speculate on the
causes of accidents. Until they happen, you cannot say this is the
cause or that is not the cause. But what is obvious and is the truth is
that in aviation, there are shared responsibilities, starting from the
man that carries your luggage to the man that makes sure that your
boarding pass is issued to you.
“And so, the regulatory agency, the
operators, the management, everybody has his/her responsibility and all
must work in tandem for there to be an optimal, secure and safe
aviation sector in the country. And that is what we have been working
on.”
Oduah described those saying that she left the issue of safety in the airspace to dwell on money-making ventures as ignorant.
However, much criticism had since followed her comment.
She had explained that security and safety could not be achieved without proper funding.
However, the Special Assistant (Media)
to the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Joe Obi, who confirmed the development
on Wednesday, said the vehicles were purchased to protect the minister
from some external threats.
He said in a telephone conversation with
our correspondent, “Yes, it is true that some security vehicles were
procured for the use of the office of the honourable minister in
response to the clear and imminent threat to her personal security and
life following the bold steps she took to reposition the sector.
“When she came on board as the minister,
she inherited a lot of baggage in terms of the concession and lease
agreements in the sector, which were clearly not in the interest of the
government and people of Nigeria.
“And so, she took bold steps and some of
these agreements were reviewed and some were terminated, and these
moves disturbed some entrenched interests in the sector, and within this
period, she began to receive some imminent threats to her life;
therefore, the need for the vehicles.
“It should be noted that these vehicles
are not personal vehicles and were not procured in the name of the
honourable minister; they are utility vehicles and are for the office of
the minister, and if she leaves the office, she will not be taking the
vehicles along with her.”
On his part, the spokesperson for the NCAA, Mr. Fan Ndubuike, feigned ignorance of the development.
“I am not aware of anything like that,” he told our correspondent at 8.05pm on Wednesday.
The NCAA is the agency charged with ensuring the airworthiness of commercial planes flying within the country’s airspace.
The agency has been under fire lately
over a series of mishaps and near crashes involving planes being
operated by domestic airlines that were certified fit for flight
operations by the NCAA.
There have also been rumours that the
NCAA does not have enough funds to upgrade its equipment, send its
employees for critical training and hire enough qualified hands, while
questions are also being raised by industry watchers on the ability of
the cash-strapped agency to procure such expensive vehicles.
However, the Director-General, NCAA,
Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, had on Monday denied the claims of being
cash-strapped, saying that the agency was buoyant.
He said, “We are not broke, we have been
carrying out all our responsibilities and have been undertaking the
training of our staff as and when due.
“I can tell you that right now, some of
our staff members are undergoing training abroad and we still have
others that are waiting for approval; we do not joke with training here
and I challenge anyone to come up with anything otherwise to that
effect.”
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