CHAIRMAN, House of Representatives Committee on Public Procurement, Honourable Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, on Monday, disclosed that anyone found culpable in the purchase of the controversial bulletproof cars reportedly for the minister of aviation risks five years jail term without an option of fines.
The lawmaker, speaking on behalf of the committee, stated this while speaking with newsmen on the matter, noting that the provisions of the Public Procurement Act was very clear on the fate of anyone found culpable in the whole saga.
The lawmaker, however, chided the Federal Government for not empowering the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) enough to carry out its statutory function, saying, “the issue of the constitution of the board of BPP is embarrassing, as it has not been constituted till date.
“Sometimes we nee the cooperation of the executive. When we go out there, we want people to adhere to the provisions of the law.”
According to her, “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.’”
Honourable Okoya-Thomas added that “argument of lease purchase does not hold as long as they are going to pay with public funds and to say that Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is within the threshold makes it look like splitting the budget, which is another case on its own under the procurement law.
“Our committee has the responsibility to oversight BPP and since the core objective of of public procurement is to ascertain value for money, we have been having issues with the Ministry of Aviation and agencies under it for sometimes 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 the other.
“Apart from the fact that there are issues on the rehabilitation of airports around the country, if she had taken her time to honour our invitation, maybe she would have been able to avoid this issue of threshold,” she said.
Aviation committee postpones hearing till tomorrow
The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, on Monday, postponed its probe into an alleged purchase of two bulletproof cars by the NCAA till tomorrow.
The probe had earlier been fixed for today.
A statement issued and signed by the clerk of the committee, Mallam Abubakar Chana, was silence on the postponement, as the committee had ruled last Thursday that the minister must appear unfailingly today or risk arrest.
But the minister had asked the committee for a new date through a letter dated October 25, where she maintained that she would be unavoidably absent tomorrow, as she would create time to appear on November 4, after she must have concluded her national assignment in Israel.
“You will recall my sincere and utmost regret conveyed to you at my inability to personally appear before your committee on Thursday, due solely to my ongoing official assignment here in Israel on behalf of our country.
“The official schedule for the signing of BASA, including the travel logistics from Israel back to Nigeria, physically prevent me from arriving in time to appear before you as scheduled in your current invitation,” the letter concluded.
However, the permanent secretary in the ministry, in another letter with reference number PS/FMA/PC/2013/Vol.1/70, dated October 25, pleaded with the committee to allow the minister to appear on November 4 or 5, in view of her assignment and flight schedule.
Responding to the letters, dated October 28 and signed by its clerk, the committee insisted that if she failed to appear, all necessary sanctions would be imposed on her.
The committee, in the letter entitled: “Re: invitation to public hearing and request to submit documents,” pointedly told the minister to appear tomorrow unfailingly.
“I am further directed to inform you that your inability to appear before the committee has become a serious constraint to it to submit its report, as the House of Representatives has mandated the committee to submit its report within one week.
“Moreso, the committee has been utterly gracious for postponing the hearing to Wednesday.
“It is the directive of the House of Representatives that you should appear on the scheduled date of which failure to do so will leave the committee with no option but to enforce the appropriate laws and apply necessary sanctions,” the committee insisted.
Whistle blowers deserve national award —Aviation unions
Indications reaching the Nigerian Tribune on Monday showed that the committee set up by the NCAA management, led by its Director-General, Captain Folayele Akinkuotu, have been asked to unravel those behind the leakage of the confidential information regarding the purchase of the bullet-proof cars.
The development is causing trouble in the aviation sector, because of the looming sack, particularly staff members of the NCAA.
Akinkuotu, at a press conference in Abuja, had vowed to not only to get those involved in what he called criminality, but also deal with them to prevent a repeat of such.
Speaking on phone to the Nigerian Tribune on Monday, the secretary general of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Abdulkarim Motajo on behalf of other aviation unions, however, warned that any attempt to sack those found behind the information leakage would be resisted by workers.
According to Motajo, instead of sacking anybody found connected with the leakage, they should be given national award, for saving the country from such colossal loss.
Motajo, who said the unions were on top of the situation, cautioned that anybody linked with the information leakage should be given transparent hearing.
The unions again based their position on the fact that those who leaked the secret did it out of the love for the country and should, therefore, not be victimised under any guise.
To further prevent the ongoing goose chase and misinformation the controversy had generated in the sector, the aviation unions said it would be meeting all key players in the industry today, in Abuja, to find out the true position of things in the cars’ purchase saga.
The need to do this, according to the unions, was to douse the tension already created by the various misinformation from various quarters.
The unions warned that any move by the NCAA to sanction any staff member would be resisted, as they would embark on protest.
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