THE Akwa Ibom State Government this year released the Account General’s annual report and audited financial statements for 2019. A thorough analysis of the report reveals that the offices of the State Governor and the Secretary to the State Government made several questionable and extra budgetary expenses in 2019. These bizarre expenses were incurred on cars, aircraft maintenance, fuel, government special projects and governor’s hospitality exceed N10 billion.

N 4.864 billion spent on cars
The report reveals that the office of the SSG purchased 15 new Toyota Prado Jeeps (TXL) for the sum of N4.864 billion. The approved budget for that item was N738 million. So an extra N4.126 billion was posted for the purchase of these cars.

The figures in the financial report, imply that the unit cost for one Toyota Prado Jeep (TXL) is more than N324 million. But a market price survey conducted in October 2020 by our reporters showed that the current unit price of the car is N34 million. Cheki cars, a reputable car company in Lagos, said 15 new Toyota Prado Jeep (TXL) would be sold for N510 million only, which is N228 million less than the original amount budgeted for the vehicles.

Even with a mark up of 20 per cent profit for the supplier of the vehicles, they should not have cost more than N612 million.

Through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, our reporter sought information from the office of the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, on the purchase of the 15 number Toyota Prado Jeeps. Ekuwem did not respond to the request sent to his office on 24th September 2020 and the follow- up reminder sent to him two weeks later.

N5.04 billion spent on maintenance of state aircraft

A big recurrent expenditure item in the 2019 financial report under the SSG’s office is the maintenance of the state aircraft. The House of Assembly approved N2.5 billion for this item in 2019 but the SSG’s office spent N5.04 billion on the maintenance of one aircraft, a Bombardier Global 5000, which is used exclusively by the governor and the first family.

According to Liberty Jet, a New York based airline operator, the annual cost of flying and maintaining a Bombardier Global 5000 for 400 hours a year is approximately $2,272,015, N693.88 million, at the exchange rate of N305/$1 in 2019.

Also, an aviation cost evaluation company, Aircraft Cost Calculator, puts the cost of flying and maintaining a Bombardier Global 5000, at $2,525,902 (N770.4 million) at 450 hours per year.

Expenses incurred by the state on the maintenance of the aircraft have outraged Akwa Ibom indigenes, Civil Society and Civil Liberties Organizations.

At one point, Senator Ita Enang, currently serving as Senior Special Assistant on Niger Delta Affairs to President Buhari, called on the state government to sell the aircraft and invest the money in education and agriculture.

Arc Ezekiel Nya-Etok, a respected politician and advocate of good governance, advised the state government to push the state aircraft into the fleet of Ibom Air, Akwa Ibom State-owned airline, for chartered services to help the state get economic value from it.

The state government keeps posting fees for maintenance and repairs of the state aircraft, even as information on the company maintaining the aircraft remained a top secret.

After spending a month scouting for leads on the company in-charge of the maintenance and repairs of the state aircraft, our reporters through a critical source outside the state got briefs that CAMOSA (Continued Airworthiness Maintenance Organisation), an aviation consultant based in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa, was in-charge of the maintenance of the aircraft.

Checks on the company at the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, show that CAMOSA was registered to do business in Nigeria in December 2019, with the name “CAMOSA Projects Limited”. The company’s address on the CAC and FIRS is Udo Udoma Avenue (House number withheld).

After a long search for the company’s address in Uyo, it was discovered that the company has been operating surreptitiously from a property allegedly owned by the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Special Duties and Aviation Development, Mr Okpolpum Etteh.

During a physical check at the address, there was no signboard or any other proof that the company occupies the flat, instead another company linked to Etteh, had a small signage on the door to the flat.

A critical source who spoke about the operations of the company, told our reporters, that CAMOSA Projects Limited only “squatted a while in the facility and used the address to formalize their registration but had moved out to a new office in Shelter Afrique.” Shelter Afrique is a high-brow, government-owned residential estate in Akwa Ibom State where top government functionaries live.

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/investigation-akwa-ibom-governor-ssg-in-multi-billion-naira-scandal/

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