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Scandals: FG reduces aviation ministry’s budget by N9.3bn

By BusinessNews Staff on January 18, 2014

The different scandals and the huge amount of funds in the coffers of the Federal Ministry of Aviation may have necessitated the slashing of its budget for this year by N9.3bn when compared to what it got in 2013.

An analysis of the entire ministry’s 2014 budget proposals currently before the National Assembly reveals that N32.3bn has been allocated to it as against the N42.1bn budgeted for the sector last year.

Findings by our correspondent showed that three out of the six agencies under the ministry did not get any allocation in the 2014 budget proposals.

The parastatals without any allocation are the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency.

The other parastatals in the sector include the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, which has N3.56bn proposed for it this year; Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, N3.21bn; and the Accident Investigation Bureau, N2.53bn.

The parent ministry has a proposal of N22bn, while most of the outstanding sum is earmarked for the acquisition of fixed assets.

Airline operators and other stakeholders, who spoke with our correspondent on the development, frowned on the drop in the proposed allocations for the sector in the 2014 budget proposals.

They, however, attributed the development to the many scandals and the seemingly huge funds available to the Aviation ministry.

The Assistant General Secretary, Airline Operators of Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Tukur, said the government was becoming cautious in the manner in which it was releasing money to the sector.

According to him, the unnecessary purchase of vehicles by the ministry became evident after the BMW car scandal that blew open in the fourth quarter of last year.

Tukur said, “If you compare the kind of money given to the ministry last year and what it got in the 2014 budget and money from BASA and other sources, you will agree that it was a huge amount.

“However, if you look at how much was budgeted for buying cars, you may be forced to ask if there is anything wrong with these people. So, I think the government is being careful this time with funding to the ministry.”

He observed that despite the huge sum at the disposal of the ministry last year, some of the airport remodelling projects had not been completed.

Tukur cited the Port Harcourt and the Kaduna airports as examples of projects that had not been completed.

He added, “The government must have considered the projects the ministry embarked on and would have matched them with the kind of money they collected last year.

“The government may be asking what the ministry did with the funds. If anybody tells you that there is no money, ask him what about the money collected from China? Billions have been collected by the ministry.

“However, we agree that in some airports, the ministry has been able to undertake some kind of developments and it will not need much funds to work on these airports as it demanded for in last year’s budget.”

Also, the President, National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, Mr. Isaac Balami, said the reduction of appropriation to the aviation sector in this year’s budget proposal was surprising.

He said, “I was also worried when I saw it. But when we began to ask some questions, we were told that the industry was gradually being repositioned to be self-sustaining and was being driven to a level where it would start giving back to the government instead of taking from it.

“We were told that our airports were being remodelled and that there were a lot of things that the government was putting in place to attract investors. These investors are to invest more funds in the parastatals.

“However, as much as they want to try, we look forward to seeing if it is going to work and if what they have put in place can actually bring more money into the sector to assist it.”

[Punch]

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