LOOTING PROBE IN A LOOTING ERA. Plan To Stop Petroleum Minister’s Probe Fails Adesuwa Tsan, Edegbe Odemwingie , Juliet Alohan — March 21, 2014 Petroleum minister Mrs Diezani Alison- Madueke was the focus of the House of Representatives yesterday as the lower chamber initiated a probe into an allegation that she spent a cumulative sum of N10 billion in two years to maintain a private aircraft. The move by the green chamber came on the heels of the alarm raised by a group, Concerned Aviation Professionals (CAP), penultimate week, over an unnamed minister who, through a wet lease agreement, spent the said sum on the aircraft. But there was a mild effort to stop the move to probe the minister. Soon after Adejare’s submission, a member from Edo State, Hon. Friday Itulah (PDP), made an attempt to counter the motion. Itulah was, however, stopped by the speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who relied on the relevant orders of the House to put the motion to voice vote to determine whether an investigation into the matter should be allowed or not. LEADERSHIP Friday gathered that the private jet in question, a Challenger 850, is used exclusively by the minister’s immediate family even as the nation’s cash cow, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is alleged to have bankrolled the venture for two years. The controversial N10 billion lease deal on the private aircraft is coming to the fore less than 40 days after the sack of Princess Stella Oduah as aviation minister following her controversial purchase of two bulletproof BMW cars at a cost of N255 million. Minister Alison-Madueke has kept mum over the move to probe her. Efforts to get reactions from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to the allegations were unsuccessful. Neither calls nor text messages sent to the ministry’s spokesman, Mr Kingsley Agha, were answered. The House of Representatives, acting on a motion moved by Hon. Babatunde Adejare (APC, Lagos), mandated its committee on Public Accounts to commence a probe into the matter and report back in three weeks. Leading a debate on the motion, Adejare said he had reliable information that the minister allegedly sank the sum of N3.120 billion into the maintenance of a private jet that is reserved for the use of her “personal needs and that of her immediate family” and not for official functions. He explained that the sum of 500,000 Euros (N130 million) is spent every month on the maintenance, meaning that, over the last two years, a total of N10 billion has been expended on payments of allowances to the plane’s crew, hangar parking and rent based on a lease agreement. He noted that, in recent times, Nigerians have experienced acute fuel shortage due to “dwindling national revenue which has reduced the quality of governance and deprived the people of dividends of democracy”. leadership.ng/news/357963/drama-house-reps-plan-stop-petroleum-ministers-probe-fails
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 09:28:14 +0000
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