IKEJA—The Aviation Ministry has confirmed receiving the report of the alleged N13 billion fraud on the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria Project of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA.
This is coming on the heels of denial by the agency that the alleged N13bn fraud discovered in the TRACON project was a scam.
Vanguard learnt, yesterday, that the ministry had received the alleged N13bn fraud on the TRACON project and was still studying the documents.
The minister’s Special Assistant, Media, Mr. Joe Obi, told Vanguard that the report had been submitted to the ministry, but denied the summoning of NAMA Managing Director, Mr. Nnamdi Udoh, to Abuja by the ministry.
Obi, however, declined to comment on steps the ministry would take if Udoh was found wanting on the contract award.
He said: “We can’t pre-empt the action of the ministry until after our own investigation.”
Meanwhile, the General Manager, Public Affairs, NAMA, Mr. Supo Atobatele, insisted that the report was a technical one, adding that the managing director was not summoned to Abuja.
He said: “It’s a technical report on TRACON project and it’s a technical issue. I can tell you that there is no fraud in it. The amount mentioned is almost the entire amount dedicated for the project and if there was such fraud, it means the project was never executed.
“Nobody summoned our MD to Abuja on the report. He only went to Abuja for an official assignment and he’s due back today (yesterday).”
A newspaper had reported on Monday that vital components of the €66,500,870 (N13.99 bn) TRACON, were not supplied at the time of installation of the equipment and that many other components installed had never worked since the project started in 2003.
The report also purported that N4bn worth of the components for the project were not supplied, and that those installed never worked, thus flouting the terms of the contract and technical support services agreement (TSSA).
The primary objective of TRACON is to improve surveillance of aircraft in Nigeria’s airspace, and by so doing, improve safety and security of air transport.
The project consists of the provision of the state-of-the-art surveillance systems, including Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR), RSM970, Integrated Flight and Radar Data Process System, Eurocat 2000-C and other associated equipment for four major airports – Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt, as well as stand alone MSSR RSM 970 in five other locations: Talata-Mafara, Maiduguri, Numan, Obubra and Ilorin.
The contract for TRACON was awarded by the Federal Government to Thales S.A of France, in 2003, with a completion period of 36 months, but due to inconsistent government policies, the project was dragged till October 2010.
The project was commissioned October 18, 2010, by President Gooodluck Jonathan in Abuja when it was still under installation.
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