Having N1.5m As Fuel Costs For My Convoy’s Trip To Anambra Not ‘Inappropriate’, Brouhaha ‘Unnecessary’-Women Affairs Minister

 Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, submitted on Monday that having the sum of N1.5 million as fuel costs for her convoy’s trip to Anambra state from Abuja was not in any way inappropriate.

Team@orientactualmags.com learned that the minister, who said this while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, submitted that she did not expect the brouhaha over this because everyone knows the current pump price of petrol in the country.

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Recall that the House of Representatives had last week  accused Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye of allegedly spending unrelated expenditures, including N45 million for a new year party and N20 million for sanitary pads.

The minister  said on Monday that it was surprising   that the lawmakers could quiz her for having N1.5 million as fuel costs for a  convoy’s trip from Abuja to Anambra state which comprised six vehicles.  

‘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 N1.5million for those cars? Everybody knows the pump price of petrol  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? she said.

Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye also commented on the  N45million spent  to host  a new year party.

 ‘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.

Like I said earlier, 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 sensitization 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-Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you