To a man with a hammer, Mark Twain once said, everything looks like a nail. One hammer that has been working overtime, is that wielded by the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, who has patching and tinkering as her beleaguered record at the helm of the Aviation Ministry unravels. Some stories are best told straight; so the hiatus of denials and defensive infantile homilies hop scotched by Oduah and her apostates in the face of public outrage over the purchase of two bullet proof BMW 7 series vehicles by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) are indeed pathetic. As a practical matter, the deal, and the mitigating circumstances, is as inexcusable as the reasons advanced for the wasteful expenditure. It is insensitive and an act of financial recklessness for a Minister to accord priority to luxury cars to the value of N255 million at a time when over 70% of Nigerians are scavenging for survival. How would armored cars reduce poverty? Given her background, could Oduah afford to buy such cars from her personal income? That is a moral test question for people with conscience.
Appearing before the House Aviation Committee probing the scandal; Oduah, vividly ill at ease, resorted to sophism to dislodge the allegations against her. But there were logical and incomprehensible arguments that raised further questions about her judgment and character. Despite her spirited defence, the Committee insisted she violated the 2013 budgetary provision and the Procurement Act. The committee particularly disagreed with Oduah on the basis that the appropriation of N546 million she approved ran contrary to the Public Procurement Act that specifies that no minister can grant monetary approvals beyond the threshold of N100 million. The committee further reminded the minister that budgetary approval for the NCAA was N240 million, and also noted discrepancies in the N546 million approved by the minister and the N643 million the NCAA eventually expended to procure the entire 54 operational vehicles, including the two armored cars.
In her defence, the minister insisted that the cars were actually approved by the National Assembly and consistently refused to take the blame for any problems associated with the transaction. Whenever lawmakers tried to get her to accept responsibility, Oduah proved evasive. She refused to say whether the purchase was justified or not, whether the processes were legally satisfactory, and whether the amount involved was too colossal to be approved for the acquisition of cars. She repeatedly took cover under the excuse that the appropriate units within the NCAA should be held accountable for any lapses in the contracts. By constantly shifting responsibilities to her subordinates, by refusing to accept blame for the blunders in the approval of the purchase, Oduah exposed her leadership ineptitude.
It is amazing how a clear case of profligacy could be twisted in such a way that, in one moment of sheer stupidity, Nigerians are being coerced to believe white has suddenly turned black. What could be more befuddling? The moral questions hovering over Oduah have been reduced to a game of numbers and probe panels, which Nigerians suspect, with good cause, to be a mere subterfuge to deflect pressure from the embattled minister and other officials involved in the ugly episode. The fatuous arguments over the correct amount of money spent notwithstanding, it is worth pointing out that the N97 million difference between the N546 million appropriated and the N643 million eventually spent by the NCAA does not make the profligacy any less stupendous; it also does not make the scandal less serious. The debate over the exact amount of money spent is a cleverly contrived distraction. The key question remains: does the revised amount make the project right? Does the new figure make the Minister and her NCAA colleagues ethically immaculate? Does the indignity associated with the transaction make Oduah morally sensitive or insensitive? It is only in Nigeria that a Minister would scorn public criticisms of official misconduct, and still retain her position in government.
No one should be mystified by attempts to confuse the key issues in this scandal. For emphasis, the point is not about the precision of the amount spent. The issue is the excessive amount invested dubiously on the transaction. The second point is whether it is morally right for such wasteful expenditure on cars with no real economic value to the nation. The third point is about whether due process was observed in the procurement process and who authorized what, when and why. Other issues include Oduah’s leadership quality, her honesty, her moral character and her financial priorities as a Minister. So far, investigations into the scandal have yielded significant but tantalizing outcomes. The conflicting accounts presented to the House investigation panel by Oduah and other principal NCAA and Finance Ministry officers in regard to how the cars were purchased show that corruption is clearly embedded in the definition of due process as it applies to procurement contracts.
It is possible Oduah is wondering why all the noise about the money spent on the cars. She needs to be protected from kidnappers and Boko Haram in order to serve her fatherland. Fair enough! She might also be asking whether the public expects her to drive around in a normal SUV in spite of her high profile Ministerial portfolio and personal relationship with Mr. President. Well, anybody who wants to defend the Minister’s disgraceful behavior should tell the nation whether, on a scale of importance, acquisition of armored cars rank as the nation’s number one priority in the Aviation sector at the moment. Although we live in an impoverished society, although many people are scouring refuse dumps looking for trash to feed on, the ravenous appetite of a select group of public officials has so inured them to the realities of our circumstance that they have lost all sense of equity in their conduct.
Oduah is a troubled Minister. As long as allegations of official misconduct continue to swirl around her, she will forever be distracted from her official duties. The distraction will come chiefly from a scandal that threatens to further undermine her capacity to function effectively at a time when she ought to be preoccupied with crucial issues affecting the aviation sector. If Oduah is concerned about the impact of this salacious affair on the integrity of the government (not to forget her own patchy morality), she should step aside; failure to which, the President should fire her! It is certainly not good evidence of moral leadership for a Minister to be entangled with daunting allegations of financial impropriety and abuse of office. The contention by Oduah’s defenders that she should not resign because she has not been found guilty is not in sync with established practices in democratic countries. Even if Oduah wrestles herself successfully out of this mess, she would be remembered ignominiously as the woman who brought the high office of Aviation Minister to public ridicule and disrepute. What would it profit Oduah to shrug off this debilitating scandal and continue in office as Minister with a handbag full of jewelry, cracked mirrors, facial masks and mascara? Only Stella Oduah can answer this question.