N255m armoured car: Activist calls for Oduah’s resignation

Minister of Aviation "Stella Oduah" 

The Executive Director of the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, has urged the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, to resign immediately, following the scandal that greeted the purchase of two cars worth N255 million for her official use.

Ugolor urged relevant authorities to probe the purchase of the cars.

He said it was annoying that the minister spent such money for her personal comfort at a time the country was faced with several problems and the government was claiming that there was no money.

In a statement yesterday in Benin, the Edo State capital, the activist said the minister was insincere because she had told Nigerians during the National Assembly public hearing on the grounding of the Rivers State Government airplane that she did not control the operations of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Ugolor said it was sad that the resources wasted on the cars should have been used to secure the Nigeria airspace.

The activist advised President Goodluck Jonathan to check the excesses of his cabinet members, following the emerging trend of their alleged financial mismanagement and undue interference in the operations of the agencies under their ministries.

The statement reads: “The ANEEJ condemns the Minister of Aviation for the profligacy and alleged corrupt use of public funds to purchase two BMW armoured cars. It presents the minister as Janus, the Italian god of wine with double-faced, speaking with two mouths.

“We are shocked at the level of provocative extravagance of Princess Stella Oduah, who described the two major air crashes, which occurred under her watchful eyes recently, as ‘inevitable acts of God’. “We deplore a situation where energy and resources, which ought to have been used to secure the Nigeria airspace, as being canvassed by all stakeholders, is being unwittingly deployed for self-service and preservation by the minister.

“Nigerians are obviously worried by an emerging trend where serving ministers financially strangulate and unduly interfere in the smooth operations and efficient running of agencies under their ministries. This scenario is also playing out between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources without necessary checks by the Presidency or the National Assembly. It is detestable that the government keeps shielding these officials as sacred cows while corruption flourishes under their nose.

“Now that the wind has blown open and the rot in the aviation sector exposed, we call on the Presidency and the National Assembly, which are statutorily charged with oversight duties, to bring all those involved in the car scandal to justice.”

A civil society group, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), urged President Goodluck Jonathan to sell the cars and spend its proceeds to settle the families of the victims of recent air crashes.

In a statement by its Executive Director Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP suggested that another “part of the funds to set up a trust fund to jump-start genuine reform of the aviation industry.”

Source: The Nation