Aviation Ministry Confirms N255m Vehicles Purchase For Stella Oduah, Says It Was For Her Protection

The Ministry of Aviation has confirmed SaharaReporters' story that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority bought two bulletproof vehicles worth $1.6m (N255m) for the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah. However, the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Joe Obi, who confirmed the development on Wednesday, said the vehicles were purchased to protect the minister from some external threats. He said in a telephone conversation with Punch correspondent: Yes, it is true that some security vehicles were procured for the use of the office of the honourable minister in response to the clear and imminent threat to her personal security and life following the bold steps she took to reposition the sector. When she came on board as the minister, she inherited a lot of baggage in terms of the concession and lease agreements in the sector, which were clearly not in the interest of the government and people of Nigeria. And so, she took bold steps and some of these agreements were reviewed and some were terminated, and these moves disturbed some entrenched interests in the sector, and within this period, she began to receive some imminent threats to her life; therefore, the need for the vehicles. It should be noted that these vehicles are not personal vehicles and were not procured in the name of the honourable minister; they are utility vehicles and are for the office of the minister, and if she leaves the office, she will not be taking the vehicles along with her.” On his part, the spokesperson for the NCAA, Mr. Fan Ndubuike, feigned ignorance of the development. He told Punch correspondent at 8.05pm on Wednesday. “I am not aware of anything like that,” The NCAA is the agency charged with ensuring the airworthiness of commercial planes flying within the country’s airspace. The agency has been under fire lately over a series of mishaps and near crashes involving planes being operated by domestic airlines that were certified fit for flight operations by the NCAA. There have also been rumours that the NCAA does not have enough funds to upgrade its equipment, send its employees for critical training and hire enough qualified hands, while questions are also being raised by industry watchers on the ability of the cash-strapped agency to procure such expensive vehicles. However, the Director-General, NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, had on Monday denied the claims of being cash-strapped, saying that the agency was buoyant. He said: “We are not broke, we have been carrying out all our responsibilities and have been undertaking the training of our staff as and when due. I can tell you that right now, some of our staff members are undergoing training abroad and we still have others that are waiting for approval; we do not joke with training here and I challenge anyone to come up with anything otherwise to that effect.” Meanwhile, two major air crashes have occurred under Oduah’s watch