Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, has been battered from pillar to post and raked over the coals in the papers and social media over the purchase of two bullet-proof BMW sedans by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). She has faced allegations that not only did she inflate the cost of the contract to purchase the said vehicles, but that she circumvented due process in order to approve the purchase.

It is noteworthy that the minister refused to be drawn into the fray as is usual by less respectable public office holders.

When her boss, President Goodluck Jonathan, sought an explanation to the uproar,

Ms.Oduah responds,a copy of which was widely published in the media.

In her letter, the minister laid out the steps taken by the NCAA to purchase the “offending” vehicles, and she also clearly laid out the procedures which were followed (which must be a huge disappointment to her detractors).

Firstly, it was the NCAA which requested permission from the Ministry of Aviation to purchase operational vehicles. We are all aware that the NCAA plays a pivotal role in securing our various airports and airstrips, and therefore requires specialised tools in order to carry out this vital function. Thus, the purchase of operational vehicles
was specifically provided for in the 2013 budget of the agency.

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Having sought and obtained permission from its supervising Ministry to carry out the purchase, the NCAA invited Expressions of Interest from all banks in the country to finance the purchase of the operational vehicles. Numerous reputable financial institutions participated in the process and First Bank was selected as the highest bidder.

Next, the NCAA received quotations from accredited vehicle dealers for the supply of the operational vehicles, and from an open and lauded bidding process, selected Metropolitan Motor Vehicles and Coscharis Motors as vehicle suppliers, with Coscharis having been the only vehicle supplier to submit a bid for the BMW vehicles.

At no time during this process, which was open and transparent, and in accordance with the relevant regulations on public procurement, did the minister interfere in the bidding, the selection of financiers, or the selection of vehicle suppliers.

Furthermore, as the vehicles the NCAA wished to purchase were known to prospective
suppliers, and bulletproof vehicles are a highly specialised item, it is hardly the fault of the minister that only one company felt confident enough to submit a bid to supply these vehicles.
The Honourable Minister of Aviation has clearly instilled a culture of observation of due process at agencies within the purview of her Ministry and she ought to be lauded and not crucified for doing so.