The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has received 17 official vehicles recovered from it ex-officers by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The keys to the vehicles were handed over to the the Managing Director of FAAN, Engr Saleh Dunoma by the ICPC Zonal Commissioner, South West, Shettima Binga at the Authority’s headquarters in Lagos Tuesday.
Speaking shortly before the presentation of the vehicles to FAAN, Shettima Binga who represented the Chairman of ICPC, Dr. Musa Usman Abubakar said ICPC was in FAAN in furtherance of their partnership and collaboration with the Authority over the years, particularly in this instance of handing over the vehicles that they have recovered.
Binga said the collaboration started when FAAN being in partnership with ICPC to fight corruption realised the need that whenever there are incidences of corruption practices or things that could lead to corruption practices, they call on our attention.
He said ICPC usually, would assist in whatever way they could in accordance with their mandate.
Binga said “in this instance, we were informed that certain officials of the Authority, haven completed their tenure of office or who being disengaged left with Authority’s vehicles that ordinarily they shouldn’t have gone with.
“The outcome of that collaboration is why we are here today. It is not just the vehicles we are handing over today. Some of them were parked in our headquarters in Abuja while one of them was parked in our Lagos office. It is part of the ongoing process of the recovery”, the Zonal Commissioner said.
Binga said that not all the vehicles have been returned, but that ICPC felt it was necessary they bring some of them back to FAAN so that they could be put to use instead of parking the vehicles and allowing it to rot away. He however, hoped that ICPC would be able to deliver the remaining ones in good time.
Confirming that the ex-FAAN workers were not really prosecuted, the ICPC representative added that some of the officials who went away with their official vehicles claimed that they have already started paying for the the vehicles during their tenure in office.
In his response, Engr Dunoma who was represented by the Director of Engineering Services, Salisu Daura appreciated ICPC for the vehicles recovery.
Daura said the vehicles were vital to FAAN’s operations, adding that what had transpired had debunked the belief, that whenever ICPC seizes any item, that they do not return it.
“We want to ask like Oliver Twist. There are more still remaining and a lot of officials are incapacitated as we are a self sustained agency. We plead on you to assist us recover other ones”,Daura said.
According to FAAN senior officials who were present, FAAN has a policy where official vehicle owners buy them off when leaving the Authority. They however stressed that the vehicles recovered were not guided by that policy as these particular vehicles were procured with an auto loan facilitated by First Bank of Nigeria during the time of Stella Odua as Minister of Aviation in 2013.
Stating that there were still other vehicles that officials could buy when leaving and that FAAN was not the owner of these vehicle and therefore was not in a position to give them out.
