- Written by From Bridget Chiedu Onochie, Terhemba Daka (Abuja), Wole Shadare, Laolu Adeyemi (Lagos) and Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu (Benin City)
• Culprits in Oduah’s case risk five-year jail term• Reps decry her failure to honour invitations
• Senate summons firm over ownership of Limousines, flays licensing of 43-year-old aircraft
CORRUPTION expressing itself through impunity is substantially responsible for the crises in the aviation sector, according to stakeholders in the sector.
They spoke with The Guardian against the backdrop of the controversy over the alleged purchase of two expensive BMW armoured cars for Aviation Minister Stella Oduah by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
This is coming as the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Public Procurement, Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, declared yesterday that anyone found culpable in the controversial purchase of the two cars risked a five-year jail term without an option of fine.
Okoya-Thomas, who said that her position was predicated on the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, also declared that no agency of government would claim ignorance of the law.
She told reporters at the National Assembly yesterday that without attempting to preempt the on-going investigative hearing on the procurement, the minister still had a case to answer with the House Committee on Public Procurement.
She condemned the government which, according to her, claims to be fighting corruption but fails to empower the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to enable it carry out its duties effectively.
She said: “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 offence 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 and checking excesses in this country. The 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.”
According to Okoya-Thomas, Oduah has issues on procurement with her panel whose invitation the minister has failed to honour on several occasions.
“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 sometime 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 another.
“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 invitations, maybe she would have been able to avoid this issue of threshold.
“What these heads of agencies don’t realise is that when we send out letters like that, it is not to intimidate or witch-hunt them but to rub minds and enlighten them on the nitty-gritty of the provisions of the procurement laws.
“If she has been honouring our invitations, by now a lot of things would have been known to her and she would not be finding herself in this situation. When we invite these ministers, my advice is that they should not see it as a personal thing but a way of forging a working relationship. There is no doubt that she has a case to answer with the BPP committee,” she said.
She blamed the Presidency for deliberately weakening the BPP as well as refusing to comply with the procurement law on the issue of the bureau’s board.
Her words: “The issue of the constitution of the board of BPP is embarrassing as it has not been constituted till date. Sometimes we need the co-operation of the Executive. When we go out there, we want people to adhere to the provisions of the law.
“The impropriety that we are witnessing in this country is embarrassing to the nation and if you don’t take care of a particular aspect of the law but go ahead and implement another aspect, it means you do not wish the law to succeed or be effective.
“The law must be implemented holistically for sanity to prevail in a nation. We have pushed for the implementation of that particular clause along the other parts they are implementing but they are not willing to apply that particular clause.
“We are pushing for the implementation of the Council of Board as contained in the Act but if they are not doing it, then they have their reasons, not that we are not doing anything about it.
“The job of the board is to formulate policies for the agency and the DG is the Secretary of the Board but the idea is that more people will be able to contribute better than just one or two people, especially when we are talking about trillions of naira appropriated.”
According to committee’s chairman, the government cannot absolve itself of weakening the powers of the BPP as the agency lacks the capacity to execute its duties.
While stating that the BPP should not be blamed for lacking capacity to monitor all government agencies, the lawmaker added: “Even the BPP cannot capture all the agencies in this country because they do not have the technological capacity to do so. They do not have the software I am talking about.
“So, if we really want to beat corruption in our procurement sector, then we must have the will to put in place those things that are necessary to facilitate investigation, which I believe we are lacking.”
But the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) yesterday denied purchasing four Limousines and Toyota Thundra for Oduah.
Testifying before the Senate Committee on Aviation, the Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Nnamdi Udoh, said the controversial cars were actually bought by Landover Aviation Company for security purposes around Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt airports.
To this effect, the committee summoned the managements of Landrover Aviation Company, NAMA as well as the NCAA to appear before it next Monday with necessary evidence.
Earlier, the Senator Hope Uzodinma-led committee called for the withdrawal of the operational licence issued to Westlink Airline, whose only aircraft is over 43 years old.
Uzodinma lamented the recklessness with which NCAA issued licences and Air Operations Certificates (AOCs) without recourse to aviation safety and regulations.
He accused the agency of issuing twice the number of certificates approved by the former Director General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren.
“The issue of AOC is a serious matter. Since Demuren retired in March this year, NCAA has issued twice the number of certificates he issued throughout the period he was in office. When it comes to the issue of safety, standards and regulations, we cannot compromise”, Uzodinma said.
According to the Aviation Committee Chairman, Arc Air is one of the six airlines issued licences to operate by NCAA under Joyce Nkem Akolam, former Acting DG, NCAA. He noted that most of these airlines did not own a single aircraft.
But the DG declined comments on the alleged N255million armoured cars purchased for Oduah. He bluntly told the committee that the letter of summons sent to them did not prepare him and his men to undertake questions on the controversial cars.
The only response given by the DG on the matter was that he was not privy to the purchase of the cars but had been relying on information given to him by other people in his office. According to him, though he is the DG, NCAA, he was not directly responsible or involved in the purchase of the cars.
When questioned on the state of the country’s airports, the DG said that no single airport in the country had been fully certified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
He also denied that the ill-fated Associated Airline plane was on a test flight as alleged. He said that although the last flight made by the aircraft before the crash was on August 30, 2013, it was due to lack of clients and not that the plane was not in good condition.
“They didn’t have any charter. Their flight schedule depended on the availability of customers”, he said.
The DG was, however, mandated to submit all necessary documents concerning the said armoured cars as he appears before the committee next Monday.
A member of the committee, Senator Ali Ndume (Borno State), flayed the Director General, NCAA, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, for impunity and abuse of office, which undermined human safety.
The South-East South-South Professionals of Nigeria (SESSPF) urged the minister to resign in the face of mounting protest against the purchase of the vehicles.
President of the group, Emeka Ugwu-Oju, made the call when they met in Benin City on Sunday to articulate their position on the proposed national confab.
The SESSPF president said though the minister had done a lot for the aviation industry, his group was disappointed over the scandal rocking the industry under her watch.
“We are not saying she is guilty but what has happened in the ministry under her watch, it is clear the ministry of the Federal Government could afford such money for some frivolous purposes. It is a wrong thing to do and somebody has to take responsibility.
“We are of the view that the current minister of aviation should go. She is going not because she is found culpable but we are looking at the overall picture of values. The honourable thing for her to do is to step aside and go.”
However, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has cautioned Nigerians to stop attacking the minister, saying they should allow the panel set up by government to come out with its findings before taking a stand.
Experts condemned the granting of Air Operators Certificates (AOCs) by the then acting Director-General, Mr. Joyce Nkemakolam, within two months while in office.
They observed that two of the three airlines did not do the mandatory 50-hour demonstration flights and other conditions that should have qualified them for AOCs.
They told The Guardian that the N255 million spent to buy two cars and other wasted funds by the various aviation agencies could have assisted to secure the nation’s airspace described by air traffic controllers as unsafe.
They said that the funds could also help NAMA to replace its obsolete navigational equipment at the nation’s airports.
The purchase of two cars for the minister came at a time the agencies, particularly the NCAA, are grappling with the payment of workers’ salaries, suspension of training for aircraft inspectors, key personnel in the agency.
The agencies have been left prostrate by the alleged deduction of N150 million each monthly by the Ministry of Aviation for unidentified purposes.
The BPP had recently rejected the minister’s alleged proposal for direct procurement of equipment worth N1,896,736,774.40 for maintenance services for navigational aids. The bureau rejected another proposal from the ministry for the direct procurement and installation of inverter-based Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) for six airports.
The minister had earlier wanted the BPP to grant due process certificate of no rejection for navigation aids, the absence of which has made the airspace unsafe. However, the bureau rejected the earlier request because it “lacks substance as it does not contain anything close to a technical proposal for a maintenance service.”
It also requested the ministry to forward a letter of authority from the original equipment manufacturer, Thales, indicating that Messrs Merry Aviation Communications, Electronic and Industries Nigeria Limited (MACE) is their representative in Nigeria, with capacity to carry out efficient and effective maintenance services on their products.
Rejecting this fresh proposal from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), as packaged by the ministry, the BPP observed that the N928, 822,810.00 worth of solar system and inverter-based UPS at Lagos, Kano, Benin, Yola, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Maiduguri airports from Messrs Multisolar Technologies Limited, dated December 5, 2011, and forwarded to the bureau, was not detailed and did not include a breakdown of the costs.
An aviation analyst, Mohammed Tukur, said that Oduah “carried on as one of the untouchables in this government. We tried all we could to assist her, but she saw us as her enemies. All she needs to do is to apologise for her wrongdoing and let’s hope she finds forgiveness from millions of Nigerians.”
Experts faulted the quality of materials used for the refurbishment of facilities at the airports. For instance, the aluminium claddings used for remodelling of Lagos and Kano airports are already falling apart, a situation that infuriated the Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who expressed disgust at the shoddy nature of work.
Since the terminal was opened with fanfare early this year, the facility is yet to be put to use.
This and others led to protest by aviation workers who petitioned the Senate over an allegation of graft and awards of contracts without recourse to due process.
The workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) had called for a full investigation into what they termed a high level of sleaze under the guise of “ingeniously crafted spurious contracts in the sector.”
Jolted by what they referred to as financial recklessness, duplication of contracts, theft and abuse of due process in the award of contracts, the NUATE petitioned the Senate President David Mark to cause investigation into the alleged high level of corruption in the industry.
NUATE alleged that Messrs Ngonyaama Okpanum and Associates, Messrs Design Union Consulting Ltd and Messrs Triad Associates Ltd were in the last quarter of 2011 awarded the contracts for the consultancy works on the upgrade of the airports in the sum of N99,179, 509.17, N60,986,730.46, N95,520,011.93 respectively.
Equally disheartening to NUATE was the allegation of award of N9.5 billion airport security contract to I-SEC security, a company it said was incorporated less than one year without any track record of “performance in volatile, delicate and sensitive sector like security, especially in the aviation industry, to provide security to the gateway airport and other airports around Nigeria.”
They expressed worry that a company whose registered address had no sign of life in it was paid N9.5 billion at once for airport security through a bank (name withheld).
The workers said they were particularly disturbed because of the consequences these “scams would have not only on the economy but more on workers and security of passengers patronising the aviation industry.”
According to the body, the ongoing airports remodelling, wonderful as the idea may seem, is a scam and “robbery of our commonwealth.”
The group further noted that upon assumption of office, Oduah contracted three firms to carry out consultancy services for urgent upgrade of terminal buildings in 11 airports in the country, describing the entire project as a mere “sham and charade calculated to dupe unsuspecting Nigerian public.”
The Federal Government had in November 2006, through the Bureau of Public Enterprises, issued the Abuja Gateway Consortium, a contract for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Following the successful bid, it was fully consummated with the payment by the consortium of $10 million being the full award sum. But the deal was cancelled.
Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, builder of the ultra modern Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2), almost suffered a similar fate, but for the law court which saved the firm over N30 billion, its concession would have been taken over by FAAN.
The protracted tussle between the Federal Government and concessionaire, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Ltd (BASL), is an untidy example of how officials’ poor attitude to government work clogs developmental efforts.
The domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, was in bad shape before it got burnt in 2000. The President Olusegun Obasanjo regime gave a concession to BASL on the “build, operate and transfer” model. Based on the April 2003 agreement, it was billed to last for 12 years. But on February 2, 2007, it was extended to last for 36 years, after considering the enormous investment from a consortium of banks in the project.
Indeed, BASL was able to set up a modern, internationally-compliant airport terminal, the first of its type in Nigeria, complete with automated processes and a parking lot. It cost billions of naira borrowed from local banks.
A controversy, however, arose as to whether the 36 years was not too long for a concession of this type. FAAN challenged Bi-Courtney’s legal quest to assert its right to run the concession for the 36 years. Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have already upheld Bi-Courtney’s rights, but the agency through its spokesman, Yakubu Dati, alleged that the deal was skewed in Bi-Courtney’s favour.
Similarly, the aviation agency was said to have violated an agreement it had with AIC by practically using a Chinese firm to force out the firm to which it had in 1999 leased a piece of land to erect a five-star hotel, despite a subsisting court injunction.
AIC’s General Manager, Administration and Business Development, Chief Niyi Akande, said the land was leased to AIC for 50 years to build a five-star hotel that would be linked to the international terminal and that currently the case is in court.
He added that the forceful entry of FAAN officials into the land amounted to contempt and total disregard of the existing court injunction.
Akande stated that FAAN brought in some Chinese contractors very early in the morning, allegedly to break into the land in preparation for a groundbreaking of the hotel, which he said the Chinese would build for FAAN.
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