It was learnt that the NCAA  did not have the cash backing and hence the deal with Coscharis Motors and First Bank of Nigeria to finance the purchase was negotiated on hire purchase basis.

“There is no way NCAA could have raised that kind of money  in one lump sum. Therefore when the pressure became unbearable that the vehicles had to be bought for the minister, the only option open to us was to explore how it could be done on hire purchase”, an NCAA source said.

The source said the deal was sealed based on anticipatory payment

Explaining why the minister zeroed-in on NCAA to buy the vehicles, the source explained that it is one of the hard currency generating aviation agencies and payment for the vehicles was denominated in dollars.

“NCAA is in this trouble because we are one of the hard currency generating aviation agencies. That is why the minister zeroed-in on us to buy the two cars because we were made to understand that payment had to be made in dollars,” the source said.

“But it wasn’t as if the NCAA could afford to pay for the cars, being expensive as they are. We have many issues contending for funds including training of staff abroad on aircraft air worthiness and so on.

“We entered into anticipating payment for the cars  such that the payment is spread over a period of time based on our projections. The source explained that it may take several months for the parastatal to fully pay for the vehicles.”

Meanwhile, the exact cost of the two controversial BMW cars for the Aviation Minister, at the weekend, remained shrouded in secrecy.

Experts said the cost of the two cars should not have been more than $400,000 including freight charges as against the $1.6 million paid by the NCAA.

The insinuation was that the vehicles were grossly over-priced.

Efforts to get Coscharis Motors, the BMW representative in Nigeria, to speak on the matter proved abortive as the president of the company, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, was said to be on a foreign trip to South-Africa and China.

Read more: Nigerian Eye