The House of Representatives Thursday mandated its Committee on Public Accounts to investigate the alleged squandering  of N10bn on the arbitrary charter and  maintenance of a Challenger 850 aircraft for non-official use by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Dizeani Allison-Madueke.

The House also sought to check the non-remittance of funds accruing from the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) boony to the Federation Account from 2004 till date. The House has given the committees three weeks to conduct the probes and submit their reports.

The House’s decision on the private jet charter and unremitted funds by NLNG was based on a motion brought by Hon. Samuel Babatunde Adejare, representing Agege Federal Constituency (APC, Lagos). The House said it learnt that Alison-Madueke had allegedly sunk at least N3.120 billion into the maintenance of a private jet dedicated to the service of herself and her family.

A breakdown of the money, according to Adejare, showed that the sum of 500,000 Euros (N130 million) was spent every month on the maintenance of the airplane, which amounts to N3.120 billion for the two years in question. He noted that in recent weeks, Nigerians had “experienced acute fuel shortage due to dwindling revenue, which have reduced the quality of governance and deprived the people of dividends of democracy”.

He said the lower chamber of the National Assembly was not unaware that part of the money for the maintenance is spent on payments of allowances to the plane’s crew, hangar parking and rent based on a lease agreement.

Continuing, Adejare added: “This colossal waste is currently estimated at N10 billion which includes the payment of allowances to the crew for the trips, hanger parking and rent based on the lease agreement. If government is bankrolling this waste in the face of ever dwindling public resources, it amounts to a misplacement of priorities, impudence and breach of public trust.”

Submitting that the minister’s action contravenes the “Fiscal Responsibility Act and all other laws on fiscal discipline”, Adejare further cited Section 82 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution “which empowers the National Assembly to expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and the disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by it”.