NCAA disputes claim that it purchased a N250 million car

The claims made by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority over the N250 million car purchase made by its acting director-general, Chris Najomo, have been refuted.

This was revealed on Monday during a press conference held at the NCAA headquarters in Abuja.

The amount was ridiculous, according to the agency, which was represented by Michael Achimugu, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, and beyond the amount of money the DG could authorize for himself.

It was revealed this week that Najomo was charged with serious abuse of power, government procurement law violations, and financial mismanagement not long after taking office.

According to the report, the agency spent more than N250 million on a 2022 Toyota Land Cruiser (70th Anniversary Edition) to serve as the DG’s official vehicle.

“I know for certain and I am saying it for the record that the NCAA has not paid any dime as payment for any vehicle anywhere in the world since Captain Najomo came to office,” Achimugu responded to the claim, calling it untrue.

“There is a procedure you have to follow in order to buy anything in NCAA, and since we haven’t gone through it, how do we buy a N250m car? Remember that the sum is probably above the DG’s authority to approve for himself.

He continued by saying that none of the 11 directors in charge of different departments had received official cars since Najomo took office.

He claimed, “The acting director informed the directors that at this time, none of the 11 of us would receive our official vehicles.”

According to Achimugu, now that the housing arrears owed to the staff have been settled, the employees are motivated to concentrate on their work.

“Capt Chris Najomo cleared housing arrears owed to our personnel since 2019; this has greatly relieved our workers,” he said.

Achimugu also said, “He (Najomo) also made sure staff who were due for promotions but were stagnated, got their promotions. He believes that when staff are motivated to work through proper welfare, the work will go on smoothly. So, he approved the promotion of stagnated staff to their next rank.”