Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Tuesday inquired into the unremitted sum of N65.6 billion to the Federation Account from 2014 till date by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
This followed an investigative hearing in the nation’s capital, Abuja by the committee headed by Mr James Faleke (APC; Ikeja Federal Constituency), where the Managing Director of the agency, Mr Rabiu Yadudu, said there were challenges of actual receipts meeting its invoiced services to customers.
The committee directed FAAN to provide it with the list of such invoices issued with their values, its remittance treasury receipts for the period, details of the reasons behind the differences between the actual remittances and expected revenues within two weeks.
FAAN was also given three weeks to provide relevant documents and reasons the agency could not meet up with the expected revenue remittance from 2014 to date in accordance with the law.
Expressing his displeasure, Mr Faleke asked FAAN to provide its bank statements from Zenith Bank and First Bank; its internal audit reports for the period under review; as well as those of the Auditor General of the Federation.
The agency was also compelled to provide details of all contracts awarded, performances of revenue heads, and other supporting documents within a fortnight.
The committee, which also frowned at some spotted discrepancies in the record of remittances by FAAN and those of the Accountant General of the Federation, pointed out that based on the document presented by FAAN, a total of N74.663 billion was expected between 2014 and 2019, but only N9 billion was remitted during the period.
According to Mr Faleke, in 2014, N9.48 billion was expected while only N500 million was remitted and in 2015, from the expected N10.89 billion, about N2.15 billion was remitted, while in 2016, N1.156 billion was remunerated out of the expected N11.6 billion.
In 2017, the chairman of the committee stated that instead of an expected N13.19 billion, only N1.5 billion was remitted, and during the next year, 2018, instead of N14 billion, only N1.77 billion was paid out of expected N14 billion.
Last year, the committee said out of an anticipated N15.49 billion, only N1.5 billion came into the coffers of the nation from the FAAN.
Mr Rabiu Yadudu, at the summon, told the committee that its operational demand to meet global standards and other challenges placed a huge burden on FAAN and this led to challenges to meet expected revenues, adding that it may need some waivers to cope.
“We are also asking this committee to support us, so that we can meet up.” He said.
He explained that the agency has written the Minister of Aviation, relevant committees of the National Assembly and other stakeholders concerning what could be done regarding the challenges.
