[b]These people are faceless coward, they come from all the 4  corners of Nigeria and i believe we need to start a revolution in this countr[/b]y.
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Obasanjo, Atiku diverted $76m
Written by Abdul-Rahman Abubakar & Turaki A. Hassan    
WEDNESDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2009

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar together diverted about $76 million (about N11.2 billion) from the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) Fund meant for provision of infrastructure in the aviation sector, a Senate panel declared yesterday.
Report of the Senate Committee on Aviation which investigated the utilization of N19.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund, which was laid on the table yesterday, found that the former President authorised withdrawals amounting to $68.8 million from the fund while the former Vice President gave authorisation for the release of $6.9 million.

The committee said the BASA Fund was formerly under the control of the defunct Nigeria Airways which was “using the funds for its services and infrastructural development of the industry.”

The fund however came under the control of the Presidency and the Federal Ministry of Finance for twelve years, the panel said. “Unfortunately, the fund became inaccessible to Aviation managers who needed same for development of the industry. Records show that the fund was occasionally used for purposes other than that for which it was statutorily meant to address,” it said.

The Senate panel also said as at 2006, when the Federal government took a loan of N6.5 billion from a first generation bank for the Safe Tower Project with huge interest rate, “The BASA account had a credit balance of $31.89 Million (i.e. receipts of $118 million-withdrawals of $86.2 million) as at 2006 when the N6.5 billion Safe Tower Projects was proposed to be sourced as loan from Commercial Banks as part of the Aviation Intervention Fund of N19.5 billion.”

The panel said apart from former President Obasanjo, who gave 24 approvals within six years and former Vice President Atiku, who gave 7 approvals within the same period, there were 4 other approvals by unidentified officials resulting into withdrawal of $3 million from the BASA account. The total withdrawals made by the Presidency under Obasanjo stood at $79 million.

Tabulated presentation of the Senate panel indicated that prior to 1999, the preceding military administrations of General Sani Abacha and General Abdulsalam Abu-bakar made no withdrawals from the BASA Fund in spite receipts from foreign airlines of $343,266 in 1997 and $1 million. On assumption of office in 1999, the Obasanjo administration received $18 million into the BASA Fund but withdrew $28 million in the same year for purposes other than improvement of the aviation sector, the committee said.

Apparently due to lack of funds, it said former Aviation Minister Professor Babalola Borishade had to turn to the bank to finance the Safe Tower Projects as according to the committee report, “Past and present ministers of aviation and finance testified that they could not access the fund because it was strictly under the control of the presidency.”

Former Senate Committees on Aviation were said to have made fruitless efforts to get the Presidency to release the management and control of the funds to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in accordance with its 2006 Act.

However the panel indicted former Aviation Minister Professor Babalola Borishade and former Managing Director of National Aviation Management Agency (NAMA), Mr. Roland Iyayi for “defrauding the country” in the award of contracts for the N6.5 billion Safe Tower Project.

The Committee said the contract awarded to Avsatel Nigeria Limited at the cost of N6.5 billion was found to cost N1.5 billion only, saying “The N6.5 billion Safe Tower Project was awarded through selective tendering process that was not advertised and not competed for.”

The committee also indicted former Aviation Minister Chief Femi-Fani Kayode for establishing irregularities in award of contracts in the aviation ministry and other agencies in the sector.

Senate however declined yesterday to debate the panel’s recommendations due to ongoing court cases brought against the former ministers and other persons mentioned in the report by the EFCC. It said, “There are technicalities that we need to tackle before taking the recommendations.”

Senate President David Mark said, “There are technical issues that we need to be properly guided before going into the recommendations.” Senate then moved into closed session to consider the said technicalities.

Emerging from the close-door session, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media Senator Ayogu Eze (PDP, Enugu North) said, “You have seen that we have taken the report in the open today and nothing was held back, and the only thing that we had to reconsider was some of the recommendations in the Committee’s report are likely to prejudice the outcome of the judicial process that has been instituted against some of the actors that are mentioned in person in the report and you know in our rule book, anything that is likely to affect the outcome of the judicial process one way or the other, we are mindful of it and we are enjoined by our rule to avoid it.”

Justifying the earlier decision of Senate to adopt recommendations of its committee on FCT which investigated former minister Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Eze said, “The difference is, these people we are talking about are being prosecuted by the agency of government for different offenses that has not been concluded.

The one in the past, especially with regard to the FCT report, was that the people involved wanted to stop the Senate from doing its job as enshrined in section 88 and 89 of constitution and we felt that the power given to us by the constitution is superior to the power that can be conferred by any letter from any lawyer on behalf of anybody.”

He added, “That is the distinction that I need to make. Because the person in question, being looked for by agencies of government, has not yet been charged to court, but he went to court to stop us from concluding our work which had already reached an advanced stage.”

Checks in the panel report show that its recommended for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Police “To take necessary steps to recover the sum of N5 billion being inflated cost of the Safe Tower Project from the former Minister of Aviation, Prof. Borishade, the former MD of NAMA, Captain Iyayi and the contractor, Avsatel Nigeria Ltd which executed the project and prosecute them accordingly. The Safe Tower Project, though well intended, was used to defraud the country.” For Chief Fani-Kayode, the panel recommends that he “Should be barred from holding public office for five years. The weight of his undue interference in the management, recruitment and deployment of staff in FAAN led to over-bloating of the parastatals shortly after right sizing of staff and payment of benefits. This resulted in FAAN’s current crippling salary bill of about N700 million a month.”

The panel also said N1.5 billion was included in 2008 budget for same four towers in four other airports in the country adding that, “Due Process was not followed in the award of the contract. The fake due process certificate said to have been issued by the Bureau of Public Procurement should be investigated by EFCC.”

It was also established by the committee that most of the companies that were given contracts of huge sums by the ministry had low share capital which violates the law. The panel gave instances with 20 companies that have a combined share capital of less than N21 million but were given combined contracts worth about N10 billion.

One of such companies, Almond Project Ltd was found to have been awarded N158 million engineering consultancy services at two airports that were described by the panel as ‘doubtful’. The committee said “All efforts to get one Mr. Gbenga Obadina, said to be the Managing Director of the company to appear and testify on alleged collection of money for services not rendered and forgery of signatures, failed.”

The panel therefore recommended that “The EFCC should investigate the case of Almond Projects Ltd and its MD, Mr. Gbenga Obadina, who collected N158 million for doubtful consultancy services in Lagos and Port Harcourt Airports.”

According to the committee, “The intervention fund was regarded by some officers as a Christmas turkey which was provided for some people to help themselves.”

Reacting to the report, former vice president Atiku Abubakar said it would be mistaken for anybody to say the president or the vice president could have spent the fund as they liked.

Speaking through his media consultant, Malam Garba Shehu, Atiku said the fund was under the control of the supervising ministry.

He said any expenditure request was made through a memo and that all the president or his vice did was to give approval. Anybody who wants know the details of such expenditure, he added, is free to call for such memos.

However, former president Olusegun Obasanjo was not available for comment last night. One of his associates Mr. Ojekunle contacted on phone by Daily Trust said he was driving and requested that we call after five minutes, but when we did the phone rang without answer.


LAST UPDATED ( WEDNESDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 2009 )

What is your idea of a revolution? @Poster

Nationwide civil disobedience, from all higher learning institutions and all the unions in the country. evidently it is not going to be easy , but the ultimate sacrifice will pay off.

Instead of a revolution, I highly suggest that we start assassinating these men.

Instead of a revolution, I highly suggest that we start assassinating these men.

Is this easier?

OBVIOUS:


Instead of a revolution, I highly suggest that we start assassinating these men.

Make your list

Instead of a revolution, I highly suggest that we start assassinating these men.

Gbam.
if we can combine that with kidnapping, it will be a perfect arrangements.
i learnt that the former petrolium minister paid upto N.3billion naire for the release of his kidnapped wife.

All you cowards that can talk and do nothing.   Na today dem they divert money.  I am please inform you that childrens childrens childrens future has already been mortgaged.  Please change subject.


You lot are not ready for change as you are still comfortable with poverty and corruption mindset.  Maybe when we get to the Zimbabwe level maybe we might see an inch of change.

P.S     Call  me when you are ready for a more ACTION rather than talk.

when will these men stop stealing?

kellygirl:

when will these men stop stealing?

Never

No, punish them Chinese style!

zangief:

No, punish them Chinese style!

Are you serious or joking. Stop wasting your time

@ blacksta

I hope you've heard of some of us trying to get things right. It'll be cool if you are well determined and decide to join us. _{We can only try.}

The link is in my signature.

Are you serious or joking. Stop wasting your time

I'm just here for fun and laughter dude. Really minding these looters will only make us go crazy.

OBVIOUS:


Instead of a revolution, I highly suggest that we start assassinating these men.

This has been my arguement all along. Loot above 100 million naira go spend ur loot in the grave.

OBVIOUS:


Instead of a revolution, I highly suggest that we start assassinating these men.

this our last resort,Em,Xavier and co,we need the expertise of u and ur ppl.
Pls help us assassinate these thieving souls.

Having helped himself to $16 Billion US dollars meant for the provision of electrical power to Nigerian while he was president of Nigeria, Obasanjo must have felt somewhat melancholy to discover that the Aviation Ministry's cash-drawer only held a measly $76 million US.   One would imagine that Obasanjo must have felt reluctant, AT FIRST, about stooping so low as to pilfer so small a haul from the Aviation Ministry, given the scale of his earlier $ 16 Billion dollar plunder in the Ministry of Power, but, he evidently overcame those reservations with characteristic dispatch.

Looking for a cheerful side to this story, Nigerians can now thank Obasanjo for a significantly increased risk that they will achieve glorious martyrdom in air crashes throughout the country's airspace, on account of all the vital ground-based navigation equipment that couldn't be acquired after Obsasanjo stole ALL the money again.

Since air-crash victims in Nigeria are generally conferred with the honor of "National Heroes", by the presiding government, the ranks of Nigerians who stand to posthumously earn that cherished status will increase with each passenger aircraft that crashes due to navigational error caused by ground equipment failure or non-existence.

Let us all now rise and lift our glasses in a toast to impunity. 

May the Golden Goose crash into our houses while on final approach to Abuja Airport,   AMEN.

OBJ is a bastard and deserves the firing squad.

I cant even forget how the slowpoke wiped out ODI village and soldiers raped their women.

but come are we really sure it was obasanjo that looted all this money, or they just heap all the trash on obasanjo becos he doesn't mind bad names and they think it he his untouchable? please let us think again? only obasanjo 16bn dolls n.i.p.p. , only obj 76 mill aviation intervention fund, only obj sell oil well, only obj dis only obj dat.?? ha han!!! if obj that strong him for get third term, this na typical gang gimmick, give one person all the bad name, let the people focus on him while the others continue with looting. just with abacha to the last admin so is obj to this one. pdp = PEOPLE deciving the people

of course its not only him.Some of the other looters are in govt., Liyol Imoke, Segun agagu are both governors and comlicit in the looting. Abdulsalam 's company got paid like 10 Billion mobilisation fee and nothing happened , so many of them and OBJ is their king.

My own idea of revolution is for those militant guys to go to Abuja and start killing those that short change all Nigerian.

@Poster, what do you mean when you say ULTIMATE sacrifice?

@Poster, I have to say add that the word REVOLUTION is easily misconstrued when used on here. The picture in some minds is that of violence and more turmoil, while for others it may be peaceful and organized efforts geared towards changing things in Nigeria. Now when you say we need revolution, and you follow it with ultimate sacrifice, I am like what the heck does he mean? Suicide bombing for change?

Instead of a revolution, I highly suggest that we start assassinating these men.

I'm not surprised.

Instead of a revolution, I highly suggest that we start assassinating these men.

tough talk on the internet? priceless.

bawomolo:

tough talk on the internet? priceless.

Thank you - it looks like some them are deaf. sit behind PC typing nonsense but very timid and gutless