A
non-governmental organisation, the Crusaders for Good Governance, has, in a
petition sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleged
that a serving minister had, in the last two years, spent over N2 billion on
private jets, with which the said minister attends private and official
assignments.
The petition, which was also received by the Nigerian Tribune at
the weekend, indicated that the said minister had refused to make use of
presidential jets even when available.
In the petition endorsed by one Okechukwu Obiorah Nnamdi for the
Enugu-based group, the minister was accused of maintaining a private jet at the
cost of $500,000 per month at a private hanger in Lagos.
It was also alleged that the minister regularly made use of the
private jet on trips abroad at the cost of $300,000 per trip.
The group challenged the EFCC to uncover the excessive spending
of the said minister.
The petition, addressed to the chairman of EFCC, read in part:
“we must not mince words to tell you the home truth, not many Nigerians are
fans of the EFCC right now, because a lot of them believe that the commission
has been consumed by the monster called corruption.
“But we, in our avowed march against the tide, have decided to
give our best to stop the ceaseless drain on our patrimony through the
hemorrhage called corruption. We believe though this is a herculean task, we
must give our all to salvage the situation, since we have no other country to
bequeath to our children.
“In the light of the above, sir, we are calling your attention
to a monumental act of corruption, abuse of office and reckless application of
public funds by a serving minister.”
Giving details of the alleged financial dealings, the group said
the minister had not only maintained a private jet at $500,000 (about N80
million) per month, the cost was said to be defrayed by a federal agency.
The group also said the minister’s frequent trips to Europe and
on official engagements were done through private jets.
The group said when President Goodluck Jonathan visited South
Africa, the minister was on the trip but preferred to use a jet that cost
$300,000 (about N48 million).
The same scenario was said to have played out when President
Jonathan visited China, with the minister travelling with the jet at the cost
of $300,000.
The sum of $500,000 paid monthly to maintain the jet was,
according to the petition, being defrayed by a government agency.
The group insisted that the said minister had refused to make
use of commercial or presidential jets in the last two years, thus grossing
over N2 billion to maintain the private jet so far.
The group also challenged the EFCC to crosscheck its facts from
aviation agencies which, it said, had records of all flights to and within
Nigeria.
“We are of the view that President Jonathan is not aware of all
these atrocious and reckless spending of the minister. Usually, we understand
that smaller presidential jets are usually assigned to transport minister on
official assignments abroad whenever there is the need for such trips.
“Chairman, we make bold to ask in good conscience whether
Nigeria’s fragile economy can afford to carry this financial burden any longer
and that is why we are calling on you to act and provide the new lease of life
for the Nigerian economy.
“We demand that you carry out thorough investigation of all the
above which are easily verifiable through the aviation agencies,” it further
petitioned.
Calls put through to the telephone line of EFCC spokesman,
Wilson Uwujaren, on Sunday, indicated that his line was switched off, while he
did not reply a text message sent to him as of the time of going to press.
Source: Tribune
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