Aviation Ministry confirms purchase of N255m vehicles for Oduah

The Aviation Ministry had on Wednesday confirmed that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, bought two bulletproof vehicles worth $1.6m (N255m) for the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah. Online news site, SaharaReporters, had reported on Tuesday that the vehicles were delivered to the Minister sometime in August. According to the report, the transaction for the purchase of the two BMW cars had started in June, but the request for the delivery of and payment for them were done between August 13 and 15, 2013. The transaction involved the NCAA, First Bank of Nigeria, and Coscharis Motors Limited, the online newspaper had claimed. 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. 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 . According to him, “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, said he was not aware of the development. “I am not aware of anything like that,” he disclosed on Wednesday. Recently, the agency has been at the receiving end of harsh criticism by angry Nigerians following its inability to upgrade its equipment, send its employees for critical training and hire enough qualified hands. However, the Director-General, NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, had on Monday denied the claims that the agency was broke, saying that it was financially stable. 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