The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has presented the 2025 budget proposal of N71.1 billion to the Joint Committee on Aviation and Aviation Technology of the National Assembly.

A breakdown of the budget puts Capital Appropriation at ₦69.2 billion, Personnel Cost at ₦1.1 billion, and Overhead Cost at ₦745 million.

Providing a breakdown of the 2024 budget performance, he noted that the utilisation rate of the capital appropriation was 30%, Personnel Appropriation was fully utilised at 100%, while Overhead Appropriation recorded a near-complete utilisation of 99.97%.

The minister, while rejecting the contract variation of N532 billion from N90 billion awarded for the second runway of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, disclosed that the contract has been revoked for fresh bidding by interested contractors.

He said: “After the N3.4 billion post-contract consultancy fee was paid to the contractor handling the project in May 2023, N90 billion was later paid in the same year for the whole contract, out of which N30 billion was released.

“The contractor, after receiving the N30 billion and joining the Federal Capital Territory Administration to compensate some settlers on the affected land, left the site. All efforts made thereafter to get the contractor back to the site proved abortive on the grounds of an unacceptable contract variation being demanded.

“The contractor in question is demanding a contract variation of N532 billion from the original sum of N90 billion, saying the variation is nothing but a fraud, leaving us with no option but to cancel the contract and call for fresh bids.”

Members of the Committee also asked the minister why the N36 billion owed to workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways was not reflected in the ministry’s 2025 budget for required payment.

In response, the minister said payment for the N36 billion had been shifted to the Ministry of Finance since the money was not meant for capital projects.

“The affected pensioners would soon get their dues from the Ministry of Finance and not from the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development. I met with leaders of the joint unions on this in November last year, and they agreed to the arrangement put in place,” he said.

However, he disagreed with the committee members’ suggestion that the establishment of aerospace universities across the six geopolitical zones should be discontinued since there is already one in Zaria, Kaduna State.

According to him, just as the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) was established in 1964, so was the Nigeria Law School established in Lagos.
“While the Nigerian Law School has been decentralized, the Aviation College in Zaria has not properly followed suit, which the Aerospace Universities are aimed at addressing,” he said.