IN a move to ensure accountability in the aviation sector, the Minister, Stella Oduah-Ogiewonyi has commissioned a financial audit that will cover the last few years.
Another panel has also been raised by the minister to carry out staff audit to ascertain the true number of workers and pensioners currently in all the agencies. These panels which began work last week have three months to submit their reports.

Spokesman for the Minister, Joe Obi who stated that Oduah-Ogiewonyi was aware of, and concerned about various issues in the aviation agencies, added that the audits would not only make the agencies financially stronger but could lead to charting a new path for them.

The minister debunked allegations of fraud levelled against the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) which was said to have been published in a national media organisation (not The Guardian) at the weekend.

“We hereby wish to state categorically that no fraud has been uncovered in the agency as erroneously and maliciously alleged by the publication. For purposes of clarity, we wish to state that FAAN indeed purchased 26 new operational vehicles in 2011 at a total sum of N246 million. These vehicles were procured for the use of the organisation. This transaction is one of those that are currently being looked into by the financial audit ordered by me to ascertain whether the required due process was followed in the procurement,” the minister said.

On foreign attachment training programme for 2011, the minister noted that the training is part of the annual mandatory overseas programmes in the industry, adding that a significant portion of FAAN’s overseas training is regulated and mandatory. “The rest is to ensure that key technical and management staff are kept abreast of developments in the industry in order to keep the Authority in line with best practices”.

It was learnt that arrangements are often made between FAAN and a world class airport authority to allow the attachment of FAAN technical and management staff for short periods, usually not more than two weeks. A similar scheme was planned with the Airports Company of South Africa in 2011. However, when the issuance of visas to staff members became an issue, FAAN opted to go to Miami, where 72 members of staff were attached at the airport in four batches of two weeks each”.

The allegations that people received estacode without proceeding on the attachment programme, according to the minister, “is unfounded and entirely false as all those who were billed for the programme actually participated in it”.