The minister of aviation and aerospace development, Mr Festus Keyamo, has rejected the contract variation of N532 billion from N90 billion awarded to the contractor handling the second runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Fielding questions from members of the national assembly joint committee on aviation in Abuja yesterday, the minister said the contract had been revoked for fresh bidding by interested contractors.
Keyamo, who appeared before the lawmakers to defend the 2025 budget of his ministry, told the committee that the contractor had initially collected N30 billion and abandoned the job thereafter.
He added that every effort made to get the contractor back to site was futile.
Keyamo said the contractor turned around to demand for a review of the contract to N532 billion.
“After 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 FCT Administration to compensate some settlers on the affected land, left the site.
“The contractor in question is demanding for contract variation of N532 billion from the original sum of N90 billion the contract was awarded for.
“To us in the ministry, the said variation is nothing but fraud leaving us with no option than to cancel the contract and call for fresh bids,” he said.
The lawmakers also asked the minister why the N36 billion owed to workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways was not captured in the ministry’s 2025 budget for payment, to which he said payment had been shifted to the ministry of finance since the money is not meant for capital projects.
He also disclosed that talks were held between aviation sector unions and the previous government which resulted in an official agreement that N36 billion was due to the workers.
He said President Bola Tinubu had transferred the burden of the payment from the ministry of aviation to the ministry of finance.
“There was a presidential directive for the ministry of finance to take over the payments, the liability from the ministry of aviation, because it would have been too much on the envelope of the ministry of aviation.
The payment is domiciled in the ministry of finance. The affected pensioners would soon get their due from the ministry of finance and not from the ministry of aviation and aerospace development,” he added.
“I met with leaders of the joint unions on this in November last year and they agreed to arrangement put on ground,” he added.
On the N71.13billion proposed budget estimates for the ministry in 2025, Keyamo said N69.2billion is for capital projects, N1.147billion for personnel cost and N745.7million for overhead.
