The recent disclosure by the senate committee on aviation that the ministry of aviation has accrued debts totaling N174 billion is causing controversy within aviation circles. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, has now come out to clarify the issue. Yakubu Dati, coordinating general manager of aviation agencies, revealed that the total indebtedness of the Ministry of Aviation which stands at N148.23 billion is yet to be confirmed by the authority but the N174 billion is a rumor emanating from some quarters.

“Some reports are quoting the total indebtedness of the ministry of aviation as N148.23 billion, as against the sum of N174 billion earlier given by the Senate Committee on Aviation.FAAN has not issued any official position on the ministry’s total indebtedness on aviation projects, especially under the aviation sector master plan,” Dati stated. He opined that there is every possibility that the figures came from another source that FAAN has no control over and investigation disclosed that the third phase of the airport remodeling project was allegedly inflated by the senate committee on aviation with over N26 billion.

It was revealed by sources within FAAN that since 2011, the federal government has embarked on the rehabilitation, expansion and restructuring of airport terminals, the building of 14 fresh cargo terminals, provision of equipment for the Accident Investigation Bureau and the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, NIMET, and it is divided into three phases with the contract value of phase one standing at N12.81 billion. It was also revealed that the amount already paid for the first phase is N11.22 billion, with an outstanding balance of N1.58 billion. The contract value of phase two of the projects is put at N93.43 billion, while the total amount expended to the contractors stands at N53.97 billion leaving a balance of the N39.50 billion. The third phase of the projects, which according to the source is still at infant stage, has a contract value of N63.02 billion with total amount already paid netting N4.21 billion with outstanding payments of the phase put at N58.81 billion. It was further hinted that the sub-total of the debts is put at N99.85 billion, when added to the debts already approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC at N48. 37 billion only brings total outstanding debts to N148.23 billion.

“This amount from FAAN differs from the N174 billion that was declared by the Senate Committee on aviation by about N26 billion,” Dati disclosed.