***Stella Oduah: Will She Weather the Storm? She came into the consciousness of the nation when she joined forces to help the presidential campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan through her Neighbour2Neighbour platform. It was therefore no surprise when she clinched a key ministerial slot after Jonathan’s victory. But Stella Oduah seems to have swam into troubled waters recently with allegations ranging from insensitivity to abuse of office, writes SHAKA MOMODU Ms. Stella Oduah is no doubt delectable. Beautiful might be the right word, but those facial attributes and stunning looks are now being overshowed by ugly news coming from her ministerial purview. And the minister of Aviation, who has really tried to make most of the nation’s airports presentable, must have realized by now that bad news sells like hot potatoes and spreads like wild fire in the harmattan. These last three weeks are probably the worst in her public service career; blighting an otherwise sterling record of achievements that are undeniably phenomenal. And from that same sector where she has recorded some modest achievements, controversies are rising virulently like the whirlwind. It all started on Thursday October 3, 2013. A chartered Associated Airlines flight was conveying the remains of one of Oduah’s predecessor at the aviation ministry and former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, to Akure, the state capital, for final rites of passage that began in Lagos. Less than a minute after take off, the plane went down and so were lives of fifteen of the 20 people who were accompanying the corpse to Akure. An angry nation reacted in an expected manner and stakeholders cried for help, saying enough lives had been lost already to avoidable air disasters. The last major one, a Dana Air flight from Abuja crashed in Lagos when the airport was just within a touching distance. Both on the plane and on the ground, over a hundred and sixty lives were lost. That was June 3, 2012. Oduah knew she had another crisis in her hands. She was superintending over the aviation ministry last year when the Dana Air plane went down. Openly, she showed she was human as she betrayed emotions and wept profusely. No such betrayal this time but a grieving nation would have understood. But her poor judgment and insensitive choice of words did her in. She said accidents were acts of God and they were inevitable. Every mortal has an adversary but a mortal holding a public office, in a nation like Nigeria where such office is seen, wrongly though, as a pathway to undeserved wealth, she should have known that one wrong step and those baying for blood would come sprinting down like a caged hyena just set free. Oduah literally held raw meat in her hands with such statement and she invited the hyenas. They have devoured the meat she held in her hand and now they want more. Probably, her own flesh! But with her eyes wide opened she has given live ammunition with which detractors, real or imaginary, are charging at her. An online report blew the whistle that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, a parastatal under Oduah, had bought two bullet-proof BMW cars for her at a whooping sum of N255million. Not only was this expenditure believed to be unnecessary for a sector where funding had been a major challenge, the vehicles purchased were said to be overpriced. If Oduah might have been given a respite by her detractors, they got another weapon against her. And they have been using it to a devastating and career-ending effect. It seems to be a war where no prisoners would be taken.The only prize will be her head. But Stella has herself to blame for her current ordeal. Reason being that as the nation was coming to terms with the grim reality that another set of precious lives had been lost to air disaster, another scandal bordering on inexcusable and inexplicable waste of public funds reared its head in the same sector that had just suffered a fatal accident. The poor narratives of the official talking point by her aides and sympathisers have done more damage to her case. The brewing scandal has clearly exposed her poor judgment, her incredible naivety and this, in effect, has undermined her credibility and public acclaim, further fuelling her detractors bid for her blood, some of who are pretenders to public morality. But is Oduah such a write-off? Perhaps no. At another level, perhaps, she had an unfair advantage – a combination of compelling beauty and inner steel, which provided an unstoppable chemistry that melted barriers traditionally strewn on the path of women in a conservative society. Many attribute her modest achievements to her unswerving entrepreneurial inclination, imagination, focus, verve and feminine wiles. A dame of oil and gas, this wealthy woman is the force behind the creation of a chain of businesses that traverse oil, real estate and other entrepreneurial niches. As impressive and stellar Stella Oduah’s performances and achievements are in the business world, this was her first stint as a public officer. And many might want to stake a bet that the “Neighbour to Neighbour” initiator, might be fighting the biggest battle of her career so as not to dent an already impressive resume. While the calls for her sack continue to gather momentum, the fact remains that her tenure as aviation minister, so far, has not been a waste. She changed the faces of the nation’s airports. They might not be of the best quality in terms of finishing neither are they comparable with those found in other oil-rich nations, but they present a little source of inspiration to an average air traveler who was used to a drab and dirty aviation sector where nothing worked. From Kano to Enugu, from Lagos to Port-Harcourt and from Abuja to Benin City, Oduah has made her presence felt in the aviation industry. With clean environment and effective personnel, there is a silent but potent reminder that things could be made to work well when the will to go beyond the ordinary is there. In the last 30 years, no minister of aviation in the country has made as much impact as her two-year tenure so far, in terms of physical transformation. Beyond her current travails, questions must be asked about the kind of perks public servants are enjoying - several of whom are riding in armoured cars at public expense. Across the land, public servants are buying these vehicles with public money. Who will put a stop to all these? The propensity for profligacy, waste and abuse of office is what is fueling corruption in the land. Questions must be asked about the cost to the public till of these vehicles and other luxury vanities of our officials. Are they really necessary? Across the states, governors are buying these vehicles and chances are that they may go with them when their tenure are over and the incoming governor would order for his own fleet. Even if Stella Oduah will go, let questions be asked and a proper probe of the expenditure of key public officers be carried out. The result is sure to send people into the streets in protest. And as she braces for any outcome from this controversies, it is debatable if her beauty and brawn, and even modest achievements will be enough to save her from those baying for her blood. Such is the negative difference a stormy three weeks could make in the life of a public official, especially in a country where they are perceived as corrupt and insensitive. -Thisday
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 09:17:39 +0000
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