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Nigeria: N2 Billion Aviation Fund - AC Wants Immediate Refund to Rivers' Coffers
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Leadership (Abuja)
4 July 2008
Posted to the web 4 July 2008
Rivers
Following the recent shocking revelation by Alhaji Yusuf Muhammed, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) that former Governor of Rivers State, Sir Peter Odili, donated a whopping sum of N2 billion to the Aviation ministry without approval by the State House of Assembly, the Rivers State chapter of the Action Congress (AC) has demanded for the immediate refund of the said amount to the coffers of the Rivers State govermmnent.
Describing the donation as highly reckless and a waste of tax payers money, the party in a statement signed by the Rivers State Publicity Secretary, Eze Chukwuemeka said the ulterior motive behind the money doled out to the federal agency was for self aggrandisement and cheap popularity.
According to the statement, "We will like to state that as much as we support the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt International Airport, it is not acceptable to us that such rehabilitation should be done with the meagre resources that belong to the people of Rivers State. This act, apart from being very unfortunate, is sad and condemnable. It is awkward that the fund of a state should be used in putting the Port Harcourt Airport to order, while the Federal Government sit tight with NDDC fund amounting to over N400 billion which it described as expired fund.
"These are also part of the acts employed by the Federal Government to ensure the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta region not minding that our resources are what are being used in developing Nigeria today. This is why we have continued to emphasise that Rivers State was very unfortunate to have been saddled with a visionless and purposeless administration from 1999-2007. It is regretful that the Odili era, apart from giving birth to most of the ills bedeviling the state, ensured that the over N700 billion that accrued to the state, according to his testimony before the Justice Eso Truth and Reconciliation Commission, was truly wasted without making any impact in the lives of our people'.'
The statement warned that it was prepared to institute legal action against the Federal Ministry of Aviation if it failed to refund the amount in question with interest to the coffers of the Rivers State goverbnment.
The party commended the senate for embarking on the investigation of how billions of naira were wasted by Odilli rather than turning around the plight of the people of the state.
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It also lauded the contributions of the ersthwhile boss of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Alhaji Yusuf Muhammed, in the on-going probe.
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