President Goodluck Jonathan has refused to hold any private discussion with beleaguered Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah despite that both of them are lodged in the same hotel in Israel, huhuonline.com can confirm.
According to sources in Jerusalem, the minister made frantic efforts to hold a personal conversation with the president over the controversial purchase of two bulletproof cars for N225m.
But the president, having inaugurated a three-man probe committee shortly before departing Nigeria, believes a meeting with oduah would be presumptuous since his panel has not even begun sitting on its assignment.
“We were under strict instruction to prevent the minister from having access to the president for the days we would be spending here,” the source said, but added that this did not mean the president had concluded that the minister is guilty of corruption allegations.
Earlier on Friday, the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Aviation probing the purchase censured officials of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for their role in the scandal.
Chairman of the committee, Nkiruka Onyejeocha particularly berated Acting Director-General of NCAA, Joyce Nkemakolon for failing to consult a financial expert before making decisions on the procurement of the two vehicles. She and her committee members were also less-than-impressed with documents presented by NCAA at the hearing.
“This matter won’t end here because when we come to the papers, going by what you submitted to us, most of them are more or less pro-forma invoices and some look like they were downloaded from the Internet, not real receipts,” Onyejeocha observed.
“We are going to ask you to bring the receipts of all the transactions you have done in NCAA from January to date because we have not seen anything to show us that they are the real receipts. This will not end here. If we cannot get the bulk of what we are looking for from you, we are going to send our own people to go and look at your records from January to date.”
In the documents, NCAA argued against claims of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) that the purchase of the cars breached regulations, having exceeded N100million and therefore requiring the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) rather than the Ministerial Tenders Board.
“To acquire the vehicles, lease financing was adopted. Lease financing is one of the ways of acquiring fixed assets in both public and private sector organizations. NCAA embarked on lease financing in line with prudential cash flow management,” NCAA argued.
“Leasing improves cash flow and enables an organization enjoy an asset before fully paying for it. This approach minimizes the effect of initial capital outlay that occurs if outright cash purchase is embarked upon.”
It explained that after identifying the need for the cars, it wrote a letter on 15th April 2013 to the Ministry of Aviation seeking approval; and that on the 25th’ of April 2013, the Ministry of Aviation wrote to approve the purchase.
NCAA said that on the strength of the above letter of approval from Federal Ministry of Aviation, the list of all banks in Nigeria was obtained on 7th May, 2013 and was circulated with a Request for Expression of Interest on the financing of the lease.
“E01 was adopted because the procurement is two sided. First, the financier would have to be selected before the supplier is determined. This is in line with procurement best practices,” it added.
“On 24th May, 2013 the Request for Expression of Interest (EOT) was publicly opened and minutes of the opening exercise were documented. The Evaluation of the Expression of Interest was held on 31st May, 2013 during which First Bank PIc, Union Bank Pic and Stanbic IBTC emerged responsive.
“The three banks were invited on June 10 to submit financial proposals with First Bank emerging the highest rated responsive bidder. That was followed by receipt of invoices from a credible motor vehicle dealers during which only Coscharis Limited quoted for BMW Armoured Vehicles.
“On 28 June, 2013 NCAA Parastatal Tenders Board approved the selection of First Bank for the Lease Financing as well as Metropolitan Motor Vehicles and Coscharis for the supply of the vehicles. This approval is predicated on the due process documentations so far done.
Between 8th July, 2013 and August, 2013 various meetings were held with First Bank, contract agreement was signed and necessary documentations were carried out. On 13th August, 2013, suppliers of the vehicles were contacted on the instance of First Bank. “Payment for the vehicles is in 36 equal monthly instalments, out of which only two have been paid as at 21 October, 2013.”
