Chartered Private Jets: Reps Give Diezani, Others One Week To Reply Query

The Minister of Petroleum Resources,
Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke, Group
Managing Director of the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC,
Mr. Andrew Yakubu, VistaJet
International, Evergreen Aviation
Terminal, operators of private Jets and
the Federal Aviation Authority of
Nigeria, FAAN have been written by the
House of Representatives Committee on
Public Accounts.
The letters dated March 26 and signed
by the Chairman of the committee,
Samuel Adeola, signifies the heightened
preparations for the probe of the
chartered private jets which is said to
be costing the country billions of Naira.
The Minister is expected to tender a
written submission within one week of
“all she knows about the transactions,
and if as a Minister she is entitled to
such chartered private jets for private
use, and whether or not she has not
breached public service rules, as well as
who is responsible for the bills.”
Other necessary information that would
aid the Committee in the investigation is
also to be forwarded by the Minister.
On its part, the GMD NNPC is to forward
in written form to the lawmakers “all
information relating to the deal from
2011 till date, the level of involvement
of the Corporation, the contractual
agreement between the Corporation and
the operators of the private jets and its
financial commitment to it since 2011
till date among others,” a source close
to the committee said.
The Committee is requesting from the
private jets operators “the contract
agreements between them and the
NNPC from 2011 till date, all the flight
schedules, the passengers’ manifests
from 2011 till date and the amount of
money paid to them during the period
under review,” the source added.
The probe into the controversial
operation of chartered private jets for
private use for local and foreign trips by
Mrs Diezeani Alison-Madueke was
sequel to a motion brought before the
House on the matter by a member,
Samuel Adejare (APC, Lagos).
One of the aspects that the Reps
Committee is interested in getting
answers to is why there was no valid
contract agreement between the NNPC/
Petroleum Resources Ministry and the
Private Jets operators for the lease of
the 850 challenger Aircraft which was
allegedly extensively used by the
Minister.
The tendering of memoranda by
stakeholders would be followed by the
adoption of a date for the public hearing
on the matter, in line with the resolution
of the House, it was learnt on
Wednesday.
Several new flight schedules operated
on foreign trips by the Minister between
2012 and 2013 has also been uncovered
by the Public Accounts committee.
The new discovery, involving Global
Express XRS with tail number S5-GMG
and tail number OE-LGX,OE-LSS and
OE-INA allegedly cost $300,000 (about
N50m) per trip, way above an estimated
cost of N7.5million for the same trip.
A December 21, 2012 trip from the
Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport,
Abuja to the United Kingdom with the
Global Express XRS with the tail
number: OE-LGX gulped N57.5million
as against an estimated N6million, it
was also alleged.