…Says FAAN Officials Spent N450M On Flight Tickets From Abuja To Lagos In 2023.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo has stated that one of the reasons he approved the relocation of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) headquarters from Abuja to Lagos was as a result of the huge amount of money spent on air tickets of the agency’s officials from Abuja to Lagos running into N450 million a year.
This is just as he said that he was the one who approved the relocation of FAAN to its operational base in Lagos and the President, Bola Tinubu contrary to speculations in some quarters.
Keyamo revealed this in an interview programme on Channels Television titled, Politics yesterday anchored by Seun Akinbaloye.
He also disclosed that it was the top management who approached him on the matter and that he saw reason with them.
He said that he approved it because it is in his purview as the Minister in Charge of Aviation
According to him, “It was the top management of FAAN that approached me, pleading that I should allow them to move their operational base to Lagos state, they spent N450 million on air tickets between Lagos and Abuja last Year alone just to sign a simple document.”
On the provision of equipment for Nigerian airports such as landing aids and others, the Minister said that, the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had late last year approved the sum of N40 billion to purchase technical gadgets and equipment for all the airports in Nigeria, adding that the Ministry of Finance is currently processing the funds and that once it is ready, Nigerians will feel the impact of the equipment in the industry.
On what he as the Minister intend to do to curb the frequent delays and cancellations of flights by domestic airline operators in the country, Keyamo said that to be fair to the airlines that sometimes it is not their fault in the event of natural causes such as bad weather or lack of aviation fuel also known as Jet-A1.
He , however, said that what he intends to do is to ensure that on a weekly basis, the list of flights that were delayed or cancelled are published and the reasons and action taken.
“We will start publishing them starting next week. We will name and shame eering airlines.”
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