The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) generated a total of N30, 084, 235, 670 between January and September 2020 and paid N2 billion into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account during the period.
The managing director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu disclosed this today during the visit of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation to the agency.
“As at September 30, 2020, FAAN generated a total of N30, 084, 235, 670, during the nine months target set, out of which N27, 967, 455, 341 was actual collection.
“From this amount, N17, 610, 732, 427 was from aeronautical source of revenue, N5, 776, 622, 874 from non-aeronautical sources and N5, 242, 434, 128 recovered from outstanding debts owed.
“From January to September 2020, the revenue target of aeronautical source was N38, 988, 439, 354 and actual generation totalled N17, 823, 332, 992 out of which N17, 610, 732, 478 is actual collection giving a percentage performance of 98.81 on revenue collected over generated,” he said.
He said FAAN does not have any operating surplus currently and appealed to the lawmakers to expedite action on legislation that will help the agency fast rack operations across at its airports across the country.
“FAAN does not have operating surplus. However, between January and September 2020, the authority has remitted about N2 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account,” he added.
Yadudu said he was mindful of the effort of the national assembly committee on aviation to ensure FAAN is exempted from payment of operating surplus to the federal government.
He said exempting FAAN such arrangement “will guarantee that the revenue generated by the airports is transparently reinvested wholly in operating and developing airport facilities in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and recommended practices on airport generated revenue.”
Yadudu further said FAAN which currently operates at 30 per cent pre-COVID-19 capacity “is shifting focus from aeronautical sources of revenue to non-aeronautical.”
“The Authority has set up a revenue task force to aggressively drive revenue, follow up on outstanding debts owed and explore all possible investment opportunities,” he added.
The managing director appealed to the lawmakers to give accelerated attention to the agency’s budget.
“The 2021 internally generated revenue budget was submitted to the committee for consideration; we believe that early consideration and passage will enable achieve better in 2021,” he said.
He said Nigeria is expected to be a hub in West and Central Africa stressing that the dream is realizable if there is funding for the provision of modern infrastructure and technology.
He added: “The aviation agencies will urgently need intervention funds from the federal government to address infrastructural gaps and position the industry for better service delivery and contribution to the national economy,” he added.
Yadudu also used the occasion to disclaim reports that FAAN staff were receiving half salary.
He acknowledged the challenges in prompt payment of salaries, but maintained that “nobody receives half salary in FAAN; we always say half salary is no salary.”
