The House of Representatives Aviation Committee probe into the N255m luxury car purchase rocking Minister, Stella Oduah has recommended the review of the engagements of the Minister by President Goodluck Jonathan and a 3 years jail term for the accused.
The committee based it's recommendations on constitutional stipulations.
Also noted for sanction is the controversial cars provider- Coscharis Motors Limited with Mr Cosmas Maduka as chairman.
Here is a reproduction of the full report.
''The
House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has found minister of
aviation, Princess Stella Oduah guilty of wasteful public spending, and
stampeding the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) into buying her
two BMW bulletproof cars that cost N255m.
And for her action, the
committee recommended that Oduah should face the consequence of
spending public money on unbudgeted expenditure by going to jail for
three-year and a fine of N100, 000.
'The report reads: “That the
contract for the purchase of the cars was not listed in the budget by
NCAA, the agency compelled by the minister to make the purchase, and was
not listed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the
Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
“That spending public
funds on unbudgeted projects attracts three years in jail and a fine of
N100, 000 as stipulated by the ICPC Act.”
The law makers also
disclosed that the NCAA did not comply with the Fiscal Responsibility
Act on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as it has not been remitting
its IGR to the federation account contrary to Section 177 of Nigeria’s
Financial Regulations (2009).
'The report, which was laid two
weeks ago but is yet to be considered by the House, also states that
Oduah committed contempt of the parliament by approving a sum in the
2014 budget when it has not been presented to the National Assembly,
adding: “The minister’s poor supervisory role led NCAA into unilaterally
appropriating funds against next year’s budget. The above is an
indirect contempt of parliament, even so that the president and
commander-in-chief has not submitted to the National Assembly the 2014
Appropriation Bill.”
Going further, the committee indicted Oduah
for approving an overinflated contract by approving a sum for the cars
which international auto dealers have described as a “rip-off”.
“The
minister has not addressed why the NCAA paid a price tag that auto
dealers in the US and UK described as ‘a rip-off’. It is a fact that
each of the BMW cars should cost no more than $167,000 which is
approximately N36 million.
“Aviation minister approved NCAA’s
request to procure 55 operational vehicles valued at N564.665 million;
there is no evidence to show that the Hon. Minister presented NCAA’s
request to FEC for its approval. Further, the attempt to procure now and
pay later is against the extant laws of the federation.”
'They
therefore recommended that “the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria should review the continued engagement of the Hon. Minister for
Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, having contravened the 2013
appropriation and approved revised thresholds by exceeding her approval
limit of N100m with the purchase of 54 vehicles valued at N643m”.
On
the finding of the panel that the cars allegedly purchased were
different from the ones they inspected, the legislators recommended that
the “Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other relevant
anti-corruption agencies further investigate the discrepancies and the
chassis number DW68032 of the vehicles on the one reported to be
delivered and the one inspected by the committee, and, if found wanting,
prosecute all persons/institutions involved in the transaction”.
The
report also asks the company from which the cars were purchased,
Coscharis Nigeria Limited, to pay the value of the waiver for the two
BMW armoured cars, having been found to have lied about the federal
government giving it waiver on the cars.
'It states: “Coscharis
Nigeria Limited should be investigated on the issue of waiver, source
and exact cost of the two (2) BMW vehicles supplied to NCAA. It should
be made to pay the waiver value into the treasury account.
“Coscharis
Motors Limited claimed that the Federal Ministry of Finance granted it
import duty, VAT, ETLS, CISS and port charges waiver to import two (2)
bulletproof BMW armoured cars. This claim is false.”
The
lawmakers also found that there were: “No copies of advertisements or
solicitations for bids published in at least 2 national newspapers and
the website of NCAA as well as any procurement journal. No copies of
bids submissions registers and duplicate copies of receipts issued to
bidders on submission bids. No minutes of public bidding for technical
and financial proposals, including list of CSOs and professional
observers. No copies of bids evaluation by the sub-technical committees
of the Tenders Board, and copies of minutes of meetings of the Tenders
Board approving the winning bidder.”'
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