Saraki raises another puzzle, says repair of Abuja airport not in 2016, 2017 budgets
At a time stakeholders are battling over where to route Abuja bond traffic during the planned six weeks closure for the repairs of the runway of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Senate President, Bukola Saraki has opened another angle of confusion, saying no provision was made for the repairs both in the 2016 and 2017 budgets.
The new question now is from where did the Ministry of Transportation source the fund for the repairs having sealed a deal with Julius Berger Plc. The airport will be closed for repairs from March 8 to April 19 and it is expected to gulp N5.8bn.
With the latest position of the Senate president, the question now is whether the scheme passed through the procurement evaluation and from where is the N5.8bn coming?
However, a statement issued by Bamikole Omisore, Saraki’s media aide said Senate president said this on Friday while speaking with Sani Bello, Niger state governor, noting that the non-completion of the Minna airport re-modelling project had left the federal government with no option or backup, but to the divert flights to Kaduna.
According to him, “It makes a lot of sense to have an option. It is the lack of option that brings us to where we are that we cannot make a good choice”.
“No provision was made, in either the 2016 or 2017 budget, for the rehabilitation of the Abuja airport runaway… one will be wondering how such kind of decisions are arrived at.
