A SCANDAL THAT JUST WONT GO AWAY : We bought two limousines for N120m for Oduah, says FAAN Before Senate Committee On Aviation ... TheNation

The Senate Committee on Aviation yesterday said the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has confirmed that it purchased 202 vehicles.

It said that FAAN also confirmed that two Lexus Limousines and two Toyota Prado Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) are part of the vehicles.

The Committee said FAAN claimed that two of the vehicles were bought for Aviation Minister Stella Oduah while another two were purchased for the FAAN Managing Director, Mr. George Uriesi.

It said some of the vehicles were bought for the use of directors of FAAN.

Uriesi told the committee that the limousines were bought for N60m each.

He however, said he did not have details of the cost of the Prado SUVs.

He told the committee the cars were in the custody of an unnamed bank which funded the purchase of the four top of the range vehicles.

The MD claimed that the Aviation Minister approved the purchase, while somebody whose name  he did not disclose signed on his (Uriesi) behalf.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzondinma, spoke on the car purchase at the continued Public Hearing on the crisis in the aviation sector.

Uzodinma said,  ”Investigation is still ongoing and it will not be fair for me to preempt it. FAAN did confirm that among the operational vehicles they purchased, four of them are armoured vehicles, two for the MD and two for the minister.

“We told them (FAAN) to go back and put everything in writing and make a comprehensive statements on all vehicles purchased.

“FAAN said they bought a total number of 202 vehicles for different operations. So until they come back on Monday we cannot rush into conclusion. The MD FAAN said they did a funding arrangement with a commercial bank.”

He said his committee would do a thorough investigation of extra-budgetary spending by the agencies in the Aviation Ministry.

According to him,”This investigation will be a very deep one so that at the end of the day, we do a holistic approach and look at how the sector will be repositioned so that all anomalies will be corrected…”