‘MYSTERY’ OF 10 BULLETPROOF CARS

Less than a month after a Saudi Airlines cargo plane hit repair tools at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and broke down on the runway, a reaction by the Saudi Arabian Mission in Abuja to the report on the incident by Daily Trust has brought certain issues to light that the authorities need to clarify. The embassy, in a letter to Daily Trust, said the plane was in fact conveying heavy cargo, consisting of 10 bulletproof vehicles.
In its account of the incident, Daily Trust reported that the plane was carrying weapons and other military hardware, quoting unnamed aviation officials. In a letter to Trust, the Saudi Mission sought to dispel the notion that the plane’s cargo was dangerous or prohibited.
The Mission’s letter explained that the cargo comprised 100 tonnes of bulletproof cars, part of a supply contract for delivery, it said, to the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON).
Detailed description of the cargo includes a set of bulletproof cars weighing 58 tonnes and another set of 5 bulletproof cars weighing 42 tonnes. The consignment, according to the Saudi Embassy, was a portion of supply contract for ten bulletproof cars to an unnamed government agency in Nigeria, which were to be conveyed from Sharjah (UAE) via Abuja through fast forward cargo US UAC, to DICON’s headquarters address in Kaduna, through the company’s contact.
The supply came in the wake of controversy surrounding the procurement of similar vehicles by the Ministry of Aviation, for which the minister, Mrs Stella Oduah, has been investigated by the National Assembly, and by a panel appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan.
In the case of the Saudi cargo plane, Nigerian aviation officials did not offically disclose the content, which the Saudis have now done. This raises the question why the obvious attempt to conceal the identity of the cargo? And then, which federal government agency ordered for the 10 bulletproof cars?
These questions are germane because the authorities at DICON have declined comment on the issue. Its spokesman, Mohammed Lawal Kurfi, said he was not aware of the contract and the cargo. Details of DICON’s N2.59 billion total allocation in the 2013 federal budget did not indicate provision for the purchase of bulletproof cars.
There are suggestions, however, that DICON’s involvement is because it could have been engaged by the importer to customise the bulletproof cars for the end-users.
That said, there seems to be an upsurge in the importation of bulletproof cars lately, because, as the present case shows no one would publicly claim ownership, it has implications for Nigeria’s highly brittle political culture. Why, for instance, would politicians need to literally barricade themselves in a bunker such as a bulletproof vehicle is, when they should be endeared to the people they are supposed to superintend over?
If the consignment’s ultimate destination is in fact DICON, it would be an unflattering repudiation of its status, given that such hardware is manufactured by similar entities established in other countries at about the same time it was. The defence industries in India and Brazil are global players today, producing aircraft, tanks, missiles and other high-end military equipment. The controversial consignment is reported to be manufactured in South Africa, which has a bustling defence industry of its own.
The authorities should step in and resolve the puzzle surrounding the actual destination and customers for the Saudi cargo plane’s consignment.
Indeed, if the plane had not broken down on the runway in the night of December 4, 2013, and led to a 17-hour closure of the airport, the matter would not have become public. The lingering suspicion in a climate of intense and competing political interests would not augur well.

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