The sordid and corrupt activities taking place behind closed doors at the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) were exposed last week when officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed the headquarters of the agency in Lagos following a tip-off.
Acting on the information and possible bank reports, officials of the anti-graft agency, who were said to have arrived the agency’s head office at about 1.00 pm last Friday, spent about eight hours, conducting searches and asking questions on the activities of critical staff of the agency, a development, which exposed the illicit activities going on in the agency over the years.
THISDAY learnt that the EFCC officials quizzed top NAMA officials, among them, the Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, the General Manager, Procurement, Olumuyiwa Adegorite and the General Manager, Finance, Nurudeen Segun Agbolade.
They said to have been detained by the officials , who discovered huge amount of money in their accounts, and needed some explanations on the source of the money. Although figures of huge amount of money are being bandied about but they are still contestable as the money being mentioned that domiciled in each suspect’s account has not been confirmed by concerned authorities.
In continuation of the investigation, EFCC few days later arrested more officials of the agency, including the Director of Finance, Mrs. Clara Aliche and Assistant Safety System Engineer, Felicia Aguabata.
As NAMA workers were still in shock over the startling revelation about corrupt activities in the agency and the humongous amounts of money traced to these officers’ bank accounts, the Minister of Transport, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi paid unscheduled visit to the agency on Tuesday and appointed Emma Anasi, the Director of Engineering as acting Managing Director. Although a statement was yet to be issued on the appointment, but Anasi was said to have been directed by the Minister to continue to overseas activities in the agency till further notice.
Inside NAMA sources revealed that some of the officials arrested by the EFCC have gone for good, considering the alleged gravity of their obnoxious activities and “the huge amount of money they have allegedly stole and assets traced to some of them. However, one of the officials who spoke to THISDAY denied any infraction stating that those who were innocent would be set free.
Compared to other aviation agencies, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency is like a beautiful bride being admired by all and sundry because of its accomplishments. The agency is known to be the first aviation organisation to has modernised its operations and has remained far ahead of others in embracing IT driven service to airlines and other operators.
But with the alleged illicit activities, observers said while so much work is being done in the agency, top officials were hiding behind the façade of responsible corporate government agency to divert the agency’s money into private pockets.
Under the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, NAMA embarked on the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON), which has been running for seven years now.
The agency also embarked on and completed the total VHF coverage of the airspace, E-Flight Plan for pilots which enables them to file their flight plan electronically. It is currently handling the Aeronautical Information Management, which when completed would provide and disseminate minute by minute information on flights, airports and airspace. NAMA also provided solar energy for navigational aids in order to avoid hiccups caused by power outages that significantly reduce the efficiency of this equipment. Within the period NAMA was in charge of providing airfield lighting on the runways, the agency installed scanable (mobile) runway lighting and sola-based airfield lighting at the Lagos domestic runway known as R18l and Port Harcourt airport runway.
According to sources, these projects being embarked by the agency created room for fund diversion and because of the high technical depth of the agency’s operations, funds could be padded on contracts and money could be diverted with labels that could be so abstruse that they benumb curiosity.
But observers gave kudos to Bank Verification Number (BVN), which they said exposed the obnoxious activities of these NAMA officials and the amount of money in their accounts. It was alleged that one of the accused wanted to transfer about N150 million from her account to a relation, who operates account in a different bank. The accused bank, which was not happy that such huge amount of money would leave the bank signaled security operatives about the transaction. This information and the petition to the EFCC prompted the Commission to storm NAMA headquarters last Friday.
It has to be noted that NAMA has been generating huge revenue in the past few years since TRACON went on stream and the VHF coverage of the airspace improved communication between the pilots and the controllers. This has enhanced safer airspace and encouraged over fliers; that is flights traveling to other destinations across Nigeria fly through Nigeria’s airspace and pay charges to NAMA in foreign currency. This has boosted the revenue of the agency and enhanced its robust financial profile. However, major projects carried out by the agency are funded by the federal government, while NAMA takes charge of the workers’ remunerations from its internally generated revenue.
