N225M CAR SCANDAL- We leased, not bought, armoured cars – Stella Oduah

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority [NCAA] did not purchase bullet proof cars as widely alleged by the media but only leased them, Minister of Aviation Princess Stella Oduah said in Abuja yesterday. She also said she could not speak on the outcome of the investigations made into the bullet proof cars’ scandal.

Ms Oduah had paid a visit to Media Trust Limited’s head office. Asked about the outcome of the administrative inquiry ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan into the bullet proof cars’ purchase, she said, “I really would not want to respond to that. The only thing I want to say is that armoured cars were not bought in the minister’s name. In fact, no armoured cars were bought by NCAA. NCAA only leased them. As regards the report of the President’s panel, I really don’t know how to respond. I am not a member of that panel so I cannot speak for it.”

Ms Oduah also dismissed online media reports last week which said she was seen at the State House waiting to collect her sack letter. She said, “The State House is where we report to, so we go there to do a lot of things.”
She said the new national carrier for Nigeria would be unveiled in January. Government, she said, has not and will not spend any money to create the new national carrier, which she said is private sector driven. All that government did, she said, was to draw up the criteria by which domestic carriers could become the national carrier. She said the new carrier will be a publicly owned entity in which Nigerians could buy shares. It will also be professionally and efficiently managed, she said. She refused to say if Aero Contractors will be the new carrier, saying Nigerians should await official unveiling of the new carrier.

Ms Oduah also said an aerotopolis, a major commercial, maintenance and aviation training hub will take off in Nigeria by 2016, which will also be private sector driven. She said airports should no longer be seen only as places where people board flights but as major commercial clusters. She said Nigeria aims to achieve what Ethiopia and Kenya achieved with aviation being the main driver of their economies.

The minister also spoke about plans to transform Nigeria’s lesser airports, 16 of which are categorized as perishable terminals out of a total 22 in Nigeria. She said they would be transformed in order to create wealth for their local communities through industrialization and employment generation. The necessary infrastructure must be provided in order for them to perform the role of economic drivers hence their remodeling and refurbishing, she said. She also said the 52 year old Kano Airport had to be pulled down and rebuilt. She said the remodeling is not for cosmetic but for safety and security reasons.

Ms Oduah dismissed charges that the aviation ministry had stopped foreign airlines from patronizing Kano airport. She said, “It is not true. It is not possible. The more airlines that come into Nigeria, the more charges that the aviation agencies will collect, in addition to many other commercial benefits. We only ensure conformity with the terms of BASA [bilateral air services agreements] but the decision to fly into which airport is entirely the responsibility of the airlines.”