Abuja — Members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday accused Minister of Aviation, Babatunde Omotoba, of cashing in on the absence of President Umaru Yar'Adua from the country to inflate an airport contract of N4 billion to N63 billion.

According to them, within about 90 days of the President's stay in Saudi Arabia, where he was receiving medical attention on a heart problem, the minister connived with certain persons in government to carry out the fraudulent act.

This is just as they have mandated their Committee on Petroleum Resources to seek warrant of arrest on the Minister of Petroleum, Rilwan Lukeman, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Muhammed Barkindo, and head of Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) if they continue to flout their (Reps') directives and invitations.

The House Committee had complained that the officials were in constant habit of ignoring their summons.

In a plenary session, members agreed that due process was waved in the award of the Abuja Airport Second Runway and that the contract sum was blown up to the N63 billion.

Their decision followed a motion by Dino Melaye (PDP Kogi), which called for thorough investigations by relevant committees of the House.

Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Bethel Amadi, would however expand on the allegations in a briefing today, and is likely to seek prosecution of those alleged to be involved in the contract inflation to a German construction firm.

After exhaustive debate on the motion, members agreed that the International Civil Aviation Control Authority should also be invited to assess the project and compare it with the contract sum as against what is obtainable elsewhere in the world.

In his contributions, Amadi told members that investigations by his committee revealed both the design and the building plan of the second runway was wrong and that level playing ground was not provided for the bidders for the contract.

According to him, the contract sum of N63 billion equivalent to $423 million was not only too expensive but high and outrageous when compared to what is obtainable elsewhere in the world.

He cited example of a recent complete airport built in Ethiopia at the cost of only $130 million and another one in Thailand also for $130 million equivalent of N18 billion.