Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday declined to respond to questions from members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Aviation concerning provisions of the Bureau for Public Procurement Act, 2010.
The minister was being questioned in connection with the alleged wrongful purchase of two armoured BMW cars for Aviation Minister Stella Oduah and Okonjo-Iweala’s discretionary powers to issue waivers for same.
The minister pointedly told the committee yesterday that she could not offer any statement on whether the BPP Act was breached on the contract approval limits of the minister or whether she would compel Coscharis to pay N10m duty on the two cars.
Okonjo-Iweala appeared before the committee to testify on the purchase of the two bullet-proof cars and the waiver to Coscharis for their importation. She said the bullet-proof cars were not mentioned in the 300 units of cars, which the Lagos State government had applied for waivers in favour of Coscharis Motors Limited for its Eko Festival in June 2012.
“Honourable chair, I was asked through your letter to shed more light on the alleged waiver granted by the Ministry of Finance for the purchase of the two vehicles, and so, that is the issue I would like to address. I would like to say, honourable chair, that it is already released to the press.
“What I know of the matter is that on June 23, 2012, the Lagos State government applied to the President for a waiver as it is normally done for inspection charges and duty exemptions on assorted brands of vehicles in favour of Coscharis Motors for the conduct of the 18th National Sports Festival or the Eko Games.
“Having met all due requirements, the Lagos State was granted this waiver for the import of 300 units of cars of various types, and this was granted. What I know is that on this list, there was no mention of bullet-proof cars, and that is all I want to say. So, no waiver was granted for bulletproof cars,” Okonjo-Iweala told the committee.
She also explained that: “States normally apply, and once they have shown how many units, the cost of these units, how they are going to be used, and so on and so forth, we go through, and the application is made, and the waiver granted, if all the parts are clear. It is under that particular law.” When pressed by a member of the committee, Hon. Jerry Manwe (PDP-Taraba), on the waiver issue and how the N10m duty could be recovered, she said: “I do not really feel it is in my place to give advice on this particular matter. I want to limit myself to the invitation, which was sent to me to come and speak about the waiver.
Honourable chair, I think you have to refer to other authorities on that.” When Hon. Bethel Amadi (PDP-Imo) asked her whether there was a law on waivers, Okonjo-Iweala said: “With regards to the question, the law on the Common External Tariffs that guides our tariffs policy has a provision for His Excellency to provide waivers under certain conditions.
“In the case of this import for games, the country has no leasing business per se on a large scale that can be used to get this number of cars for officials.” The Chairman of the committee, in her trademark brash manner, cut off questions from members as she insisted on dictating the line of questioning of the minister.
“Honourable members, let’s limit ourselves to the issues. We cannot be asking too many questions. Please, it’s okay! It’s okay!! The minister has other official assignments to attend to,” she said, banging the gavel.
At this point, the minister got up to leave without a formal dismissal from the committee as it is the norm with hearings before she was stopped following the protest of some lawmakers. She was, however, formally dismissed a few minutes later. Okonjo-Iweala, who came to the hearing dressed modestly in her trademark Ankara prints, had gone over to greet the committee members before taking her seat.
But instead of taking her oath with a Bible as a Christian before testifying at investigative hearings, she gave an affirmation that her testimony will be based on the truth instead. It will be recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, had earlier told the committee that the Federal Government lost more than N10m, following the purchase of two cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.
In his submission before the committee, Mr. Mannaseh Jatau, Deputy Comptroller- General in charge of modernisation and public relations, disclosed that Coscharis deceived the National Security Adviser, NSA, to evade the import duty of the two vehicles.
“The duty payable was supposed to be N10,133,505.74, but that duty was not paid because the said import has an import duty exemption certificate, IDEC, number BO/R.102/ S.3/V.111B/73 of 20/11/2012 issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
“This import duty exemption certificate beneficiary was issued to the Lagos State government (the beneficiary) through Messrs Coscharis Motors Limited for the 18th National Sports Festival (Eko 2012). “The end user number is 000001672 of June 6, 2013, and it was issued by the office of the National Security Adviser. That is the information we have,” Jatau said.
Meanwhile, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has warned against turning the armoured cars scandal into an ethnic issue. NNPP in a statement by its National Chairman, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, stated that the party was deeply concerned about the ethnic dimension being introduced into the allegations. It also urged those looking into the scandal to ensure that the probes were transparent in the interest of the nation. “The African culture abhors wrong- doings and corrupt practices.
We are aware that no ethnic group in Nigeria encourages corruption, although corruption among greater numbers knows no ethnic boundary. So, we advise those who are trying to turn this alleged scandal into an ethnic thing to think more about solutions than allowing the problems to fester. “As a matter of fact, the revelations at the public hearing by the National Assembly have once again demonstrated the need for restraint and sober reflection.
“This is so as not to allow the import of the exact problem with our dear nation to be clouded by the passion being expressed by both the anti-Oduah and pro-Oduah (factions), as the situation is turning into. “We believe the ongoing efforts by both the President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly in setting up separate probe panels to beam their searchlight on all the hidden areas in the armoured cars issues are in the right direction,” the NNPP boss stated.
Aniebonam also noted that the ongoing war of words by the proponents and opponents of the “Oduah must resign” campaign was uncalled for and might not help the nation in the long run if the authorities must get to the root of the matter.
He, therefore, reiterated the need for caution, transparency and restraint by all the parties concerned in the matter. “We are quite aware of the many commendations the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, had garnered in the past over what some see as the good works she is doing in the sector, and this is a plus for her.
“The NNPP is not saying good work is a license to abuse of office, what we are saying is that we should not rush into undue condemnation that we may find difficult to correct when the true colour is eventually presented before the nation.
“Nothing should be done to truncate this process in the interest of transparency, accountability and our nationhood. It is important that we use this medium to state that our women should not be unduly intimidated or blackmailed in a matter that is already following a due process of enquiry.”
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