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Stella
Oduah, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation
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The
on-going investigation by the House of Representatives Committee into the
purchase of N255 million bullet proof vehicles by the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA) for the Minister of Aviation Stella Oduah is a rigmarole that
is begging the issue. So also is the presidential panel, which Nigerians
suspect, with good cause, to be a mere subterfuge to deflect pressure from the
minister and other officials involved in the ugly episode. In real terms, the
transaction, along with the totality of the circumstances surrounding it, is a
sad commentary on the values and quality of those in charge of the affairs of
the country.
It
underscores the yawning disconnect between the government and the governed in
terms of priority and need, and why there is so much struggle for political
appointment and offices. Apart from the fact that due process was
circumscribed; that so much public fund was spent on two vehicles, at a time the
country is in dire economic straits, the deal is as inexcusable as the reason
offered for it. The worries of an average Nigerian are about the basic
necessities of life – food, good healthcare, quality education, gainful
employment and reliable infrastructure, all of which remain hard to come by.
It
is pathetic that while the average citizen buckles under the severe yoke of
poverty; unemployment and lack, and the failure of government to discharge its
statutory and moral responsibility to the populace, public officials
would have so much leeway on profligacy and the mundane, which the bullet proof
cars at issue represent.
This is more so at a time when government revenue is
said to be dwindling and states are complaining of being short changed. When juxtaposed
with the crisis in the aviation sector characterised by the series of air
mishaps that have taken place recently claiming many lives; and the Aviation
Ministry’s failure to ensure safety of air transportation, the extent of
government’s contempt and disdain for its people becomes obvious.
What
the time calls for is a comprehensive overhaul of the aviation sector to
inspire confidence in the flying public. Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, went
too far with the acquisition of the bullet proof cars in a country where
poverty is on the rampage, where primordial diseases such as cholera and guinea
worm still decimate the rank and where infant mortality remains a source of
concern to the international community.
It
is this same intense individualism, buoyed by the rapacious corruption in the
country that can make NCAA officials think that what is important as a
regulatory agency is the safety of the minister rather than that of millions of
people who depend on air travel to do their business. Individualism is the only
reason parastatals created for service delivery to the people have become the
backyard farmland for their supervising ministers where free funds are
harvested as much and as often as they want.
Needless
to say, the NCAA has traded away its independence and compromised its
regulatory responsibility in order to please its minister. In so many ways, it
conducts itself more as an inseverable appendage of the ministry to the
detriment of professionalism and public service ethics. This pathetic phenomenon
has bogged down the nation, as officials of parastatals would rather serve the
ministers that nominated them for appointment than serve the state for whose
sake they were appointed.
Nigerians
expect that the Oduahgate scandal should not be swept under the carpet, as many
so-called investigations into financial impropriety in the public service have
been compromised in the past. By any moral or decent standard, Miss Oduah ought
to have been ushered out of office to allow unfettered investigation by
appropriate law enforcement agencies.
That is the only way to counter
insinuations that this government feels no scruple about corruption; or that no
harm would befall the minister, however damning the allegation and its proof,
because of her rumoured closeness to President Goodluck Jonathan. No government
that vacillates in a case so obvious and that smacks of massive moral deficit
on the part of the minister will be deserving of the respect of its people. If
the government hopes to get away with this, it will not get away with the harsh
verdict of history.
There
is no need for any rigmarole, for that is what the investigation panel set up
by the president or indeed any other organ of government amounts to. There had
been too many of such public hearings in the past at public expense that turned
out to be too much ado about nothing, mere sound without fury. That is not what
Nigerians desire at this time as it amounts to an assault on the collective
psyche of all citizens.
The issues involved, namely morality, ethics and
dignity of office are clear. All the culprits in this obscene act should be
made to pay a price for their misconduct. Miss Oduah’s continued stay in office
is no longer tenable. President Jonathan should do the right thing by replacing
the minister with another person. The officials of NCCA involved in the car
deal, should also be thrown out of the system.
Meanwhile,
the Police or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should open
inquiry into the conduct of the culprits with a view to prosecuting them, if
necessary. It is time public officials were made to account for their actions.
Source: The Guardian
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