Tinubu’s Minister defends spending N1.5m to fuel six cars, says “it’s not a big deal”
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Women Affairs Minister Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye – who last week had a shouting match with lawmakers on television instead of answering their questions about her alleged financial corruption – has defended spending N1.5 million to fuel six vehicles in her convoy on a trip to Anambra.
She spoke on Channels Television days after her combative argument with House of Representatives members who wanted to know how her ministry appropriated unrelated expenditures, including more than N45 million for a New Year party, N20 million for sanitary pads, and N1.5 million for petrol.
Kennedy-Ohanenye expressed surprise on Channels the lawmakers could question her spending N1.5 million on fuelling vehicles for the journey, insisting the amount is “not a big deal.”
Her defence toes the line of her boss, Bola Tinubu’s profligacy by creating and expanding unnecessary (even unconstitutional expenditure items) rather than cut the cost of governance to free up funds to bolster social infrastructure.
“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,” she recounted.
“What is N1.5 million for those cars? Everybody knows how much fuel costs since I came in.
“But when I was explaining, they [the 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?”
Kennedy-Ohanenye also narrated how her predecessor (Sadiya Farouq) approved N45 million to host 33 schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to a party and bought a bag worth N15,000 each for each student.
Farouq is currently being tried in court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged misappropriation of public funds.
Kennedy-Ohanenye absolved herself of blame in the budget for fuelling vehicles, stressing it was approved before she took over the ministry.
“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 [2023].
“When I came in, I heard about the contracts and checked some of them.
“A lot of them have not [been] done 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 [the lawmakers] talked about N45 million 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 N45 million was spent. It was their way of handling things before I came. I [have] 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.”
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