The Minister revealed this on Wednesday while briefing State House Journalists after the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council ( FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him “government has only spent N651 million (N352 million and N299 million) for what he called transactional advisory services approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), but yet to be disbursed as the consultants were yet to finish their work.”
Sirika, while giving update on Nigeria Air, said “So Nigeria Air is of course, we are going to come very soon to council for approval of the full business case. And the activity is a Public Private Partnership, which is guided by the ICRC regulations, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
“This is absurd. This is unbecoming of a paper of that caliber, to dish out lies on purpose to mislead the public. The entire amount of money spent on national carrier is around the transaction advisory services. And we came here with a memo with approval, which we dished out to the press as to the quantum of money to be spent. It was N352 million in today’s rate. And another contract of N299 million.
“They should desist from putting things on the social media.
Sirika, while also speaking on the various road maps embarked upon by his Ministry, disclosed that the road map were done through Public, Private Partnership( PPP), adding that their results will manifest
He also revealed that the planned concessioning of some of the airports were nearing completion stages , adding that “ they will soon come to Council within the next three to four weeks.
Sirika revealed that information at government disposal, shows that some of the airlines are refusing to accept the Naira and have resorted to charging their ticket fares in dollars in violation of the country’s laws, while some others have blocked local travel agencies from accessing their websites for transactions, choosing to release expensive tickets.
“I want to use this opportunity to say that reports are reaching us that some of the airlines are refusing to sell tickets in naira. That is a violation of our of local laws, they will not be allowed. The high and the mighty amongst them will be sanctioned, if they’re caught doing that.
Sirika, while urging the airlines to desist from doing things outside of the law, added that the foreign airlines made over $1.1 billion from Nigeria in 2016, when the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration cleared the $600 million it inherited from previous government.
According to Sirika, “ these airlines had remitted over $600 million to their home countries in 2016 while over $265 million has also been released this year out of about $484 million due to them.
“ We are doing all that we can to keep the airlines happy by ensuring that their money does not pile up again, because the country needs their services, the airlines need the Nigerian market.”
