Revealed: FAAN Bought 202 New Cars Without Approvals

The Senate, on Wednesday, disclosed that the management of Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) purchased 202 operational vehicles, probably without following due process.

This was as it also confirmed that four of the vehicles were bullet-proof.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma, gave the confirmation at the continuation of the public hearing convened to address crisis in the aviation sector.

He said the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr George Uriesi, confirmed on oath that his agency bought 202 vehicles, out of which four were bullet-proof.

Uriesi had confessed before the six-man Senate committee, on Tuesday, that the agency was involved in the purchase of the bullet-proof cars, including two Lexus Limousines and two Prado Jeeps.

While he said the two limousines were bought at the cost of N60 million each, he added that he did not know of the cost of the two Prado Jeeps, adding that the vehicles were still in the custody of the bankers which funded the purchase.

Senator Uzodinma told newsmen in Abuja that investigation was still ongoing on the illegal bullet-proof vehicles purchase.

“Investigation is still ongoing and it will not be fair for me to preempt it. FAAN did confirm that among the operational vehicles it purchased, four of them are armoured vehicles, two for the MD and two for the minister.

“And we told them to go back and put everything in writing and make a comprehensive statements on all vehicles purchased, that they bought a total number of 202 vehicles for different operations.

“So, until they come back on Monday (next week), we cannot rush into conclusion.

“The FAAN MD said they did a funding arrangement with a commercial bank, he said.

Uzodinma promised that the committee would be thorough in its investigation of extra-budgetary spendings by the aviation parastatal.

“This investigation will be a very deep one, so that at the end of the day, we do a holistic approach and look at how the sector will be repositioned and all anomalies corrected,” he said.