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Senators on Tuesday disclosed how the N19.5 billion Aviation Intervention Fund was shared among top government officials, using companies as fronts, under the watch of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
A report by the Senate Aviation Committee, which probed the disbursement of the Fund, indicted two former Aviation Ministers, Babalola Borisade and Femi Fani-Kayode.
The Committee recommended a five-year public office ban for Fani-Kayode based on "established irregularities in the award of contracts" while he was Minister.
It detailed how 20 companies, with a combined share capital of less than N21 million, got N10 billion worth of contracts, and how fake Due Process Certificates were used to siphon money from the Fund.
Committee Chairman, Anyim Ude, presented the report to plenary on Tuesday.
But when Ude wanted to read out the recommendations, Senate President, David Mark, stopped him, "based on the discussions we had with you yesterday (Monday)."
The Committee urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to go after Borisade; former National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) Managing Director, Roland Iyayi; and Avsatel Nigeria Managing Director, George Eider, and recover N5 billion being inflated cost of the Safe Tower Project.
The Senate, however, did not debate the report on the premise that the matter is before the courts.
The Committee's findings and recommendations also include:
Most of the companies awarded contracts by the Ministry of Aviation and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had low share capital of between N20,000 and N500,000.
They were awarded contracts ranging from N50 million to N100 million and above, which is against the law.
Examples of such companies include:
Avsatel (got contracts worth N6.5 billion), ADB Airport Lighting Systems (N920 million), Belform (N725,546,426), Almonds (N145 million), Smarribs (N50,685,726.35), Proxy-U (N50,358,066.32), Umco Royal Links (N50,261,211), and High Grade Tech (N49,658,000).
Valca Builders (N48,116,112.56), Abhal Ventures (N45,927,000), Neregroma (N44,533,528.42), M/s U-Ess & Part (N37,426,533), United Prefab (N29,190,500), and Vindotco W/A (N27,975,700).
Rockefeller Const (N21,535,266.32), Remiss Inv (N22,825,686.31), Endev Ass (N20,371,929.48), Jelroi Merchants (N20,785,612.50), Batec (N16,805,000), and Jimmy Nigeria (N14,000,648).
The 20 companies have a combined share capital of less than N21 million but they were given combined contracts worth about N10 billion.
The federal Accountant General and Aviation Ministry officials should provide details of unspecified expenditure of $3,149,210.29 in their submissions and the $7,269,754.74 difference in expenditure between 1999 and 2006 should be reconciled or explained.
The Senate should urge the EFCC and the police to recover N5 billion being inflated cost of the Safe Tower Project from Borisade, Iyayi, and Avsatel Nigeria and also prosecute them.
The Safe Tower Project, though well intentioned, was used to defraud the country.
The EFCC should investigate the source of the fake Due Process Certificate said to have been issued by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for the award of the N6.5 billion Safe Tower Project.
The EFCC should find out why Certificate of Payment was never issued by the BPP and no request to that effect was made by the ministry as well as the source of other fake Due Process Certificates used by contractors who did jobs for and were paid by the FAAN.
Fani-Kayode should be barred from holding public office for five years for the following reasons:
Irregularities in the award of contracts in the Ministry of Aviation, FAAN and NAMA during his tenure.
The weight of his undue interference in the management, recruitment, and deployment of staff in FAAN led to the bloating of the parastatal shortly after the "right-sizing" of staff and payment of severance benefits.
This resulted in the FAAN's current crippling salary bill of about N700 million a month.
He threatened and harassed any Chief Executive who dared to express a contrary opinion; for example, he first suspended and later sacked former FAAN Managing Director, Mohammed Yusuf, who was re-instated by Obasanjo.
Fani-Kayode recruited his own men from outside the aviation sector without due process and thereby got serving officers demoralised.
For examples, the Director of Administration, Adedeji Adebiyi (who was brought from Leen Oil and should have been deployed to handle estate matters), and the Director of Finance, Jerry Onifade (picked from Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation with controversial antecedents).
The N19.5 billion released by the government in 2006 was intended to finance major projects in four aviation parastatals as follows:
FAAN (N9.2 billion), NAMA (N7.3 billion), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) (N2.2 billion), and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) (N0.9 billion).
But the disbursement of the N19.5 billion was changed by the Ministry of Aviation as follows:
FAAN (N13,100,956,240.07), NAMA (N6,399,043,759.35), NCAA (nil), and NIMET (nil).
The Rivers State Government later released an additional N2 billion to the FAAN to upgrade infrastructure at the Port Harcourt Airport - making a total N21.5 billion in the Fund.
The money was sourced and broadly applied as follows:
Bank Loan: NAMA Safe Tower Project (N6.5 billion).
FGN Natural Resources Account: FAAN severance benefits (N2.0 billion).
FAAN intervention at four airports (N11.0 billion).
Rivers State Government FAAN infrastructure at Port Harcourt Airport (N2.0 billion).
However, on Tuesday, an Abuja High Court granted leave for Eider to travel to Austria for medical treatment.
He is standing trial over allegations of bribery in the award of contract for the Safe Tower Project, and is charged alongside Borisade, Iyayi, and T.A. Dairo, an aide to Borisade.