The Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, on Monday, declared that there is no big deal in spending ₦1.5m to fuel six cars for an official journey to Anambra State.
According to her, everyone knows how much petrol costs in Nigeria and spending such an amount on fueling the cars is not an issue that should raise concerns.
NATURENEX reports she made the submission while speaking on Channels Television, where she bared her mind on the quizzing of the spending in the Ministry of Women Affairs by a committee of the House of Representatives.
Kennedy-Ohanenye has been embroiled in debates with the lawmakers on how her ministry appropriated unrelated expenditures, including ₦45 million for a New Year party, N20 million for sanitary pads and ₦1.5 million for petrol.
Recently, she was involved in a heated argument with the lawmakers over the spending in her Ministry.
However, on Monday, the Minister declared that there is no big deal in the amount spent on fueling vehicles for her convoy to Anambra.
In her words, “How many vehicles? I travelled with the staff in the bus, two security vehicles, one DSS and one police, my vehicle, the backup, and the other one. About six vehicles went all the way to Anambra State for a job and we came back. What is N1.5m for those cars? Everybody knows how much fuel cost since I came in.
“But when I was explaining, they (lawmakers) won’t even give you a chance to explain. They will tell you to just say a ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ How can I say yes or no without an explanation?”
Speaking further on other allegations of financial misappropriation in her Ministry, Kennedy-Ohanenye said some of the spendings were approved before she came in as a Minister; hence she was not part of the arrangement.
The Minister stated that her predecessor approved N45m to host 33 schools in the Federal Capital Territory to a party and bought bags worth N15,000 each for each student.
She said her hands were tied in some of the matters she’s been called out for, adding that she has been trying to change how things are done since coming on board.
“Let me start by saying that last year’s budget was not done while I was there. All the contracts were also not awarded while I was there. Most of them were awarded in March and the contract money was released in May before I arrived in August. When I came in, I heard about the contract and checked some of them.
“A lot of them have not done it to date. Only about four files were clear and not only that, the ministry had a lot of liabilities due to underfunding. So, those other people who didn’t do the contract were part of the people claiming their monies were not paid. Again, they talked about N45m used for a party.
“As I said, I was not there when those budgets were made. That party was held and even the chairman of Women’s Affairs came there. They invited about 33 schools and thousands of children were there. I was told they did sensitisation by going around schools. They provided transport to every school coming and gave each student a school bag that cost about N15,000 each. There were a lot of other things inside the bag. They were equally given food.
“That was how the N45m was spent. It was their way of handling things before I came. I always fought for new narratives since I came; this was partly one of the things I never would have tolerated as a minister. But my hands were tied,” she said.
