By KINGSLEY OKOYE

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, says the Federal Government will not accept the N532 billion contract variation requested for by the contractors handling the Abuja International Airport second runway.

Keyamo stated this when he appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation to defend the ministry?s 2025 budget.

He said that the variation was against the initial N90 billion for execution of the project.

The minister, while responding to a question on the reported stalled execution of the project, said that the contractor had moved to site after the initial release of N30 billion and payment of compensation to communities on issues related to land.

He said that the contractor had also done excavation on the site and carried out other works from the funds released and thereafter requested for the N532 billion variation.

This, he said, was unacceptable to the government.

?The variation that the contractors are bringing is a variation that I totally disagree with. I will not go ahead with that variation; the president himself doesn?t like variation.

?If a contract was awarded for N90 billion, and they are proposing N532 billion variation within a space of two years, I will not accept it. The option I have is to cancel the contract.

?So, with the situation now, we have two proposals on the table which I will take to the president, and I will consult my chairman. So we are considering various options.

?This country cannot go on with such unreasonable variations,? the minister said.

He said that the ministry proposed a total of N71 billion in the 2025 budget, with capital projects put at N69 billion, personnel, N1 billion naira while overhead was N745 million.

Keyamo said that a significant number of the projects listed for completion were already ongoing in the ministry.

Earlier, Chairman of the Joint Committee, Sen. Abdulfatai Buhari, said that the committee must ensure efficient use of the funds allocated in order to achieve tangible results.

According to him, the committee will strengthen its oversight on the ministry and the firm spending the funds.

He said that the projects were so important to the aviation sector.

Buhari also said that the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) which was removed from the Federal Government?s budget in 2023-2024, had been included in the 2025 budget.

?Therefore, this budget event will be a critical step in our efforts to ensure that our nation?s resources are allocated efficiently and effectively,? he said.

The senator commended the minister and his team for their commitment and the improvement recorded in the sector since the inception of the present administration.

He urged Keyamo to prevail on the agencies under the ministry to always respond promptly to invitations by the National Assembly.

He said that the national assembly had the power to invite the agencies in exercise of its oversight responsibility.

?The only thing we just want to take and appeal to you is your agencies; whenever we call them, we don?t want to issue a second warning; we don?t want a situation where we will call them and they won?t come; we have the power to invite them.

?So we want to appeal to you to appeal to your people that whenever they see a letter from the national assembly, they should show up,? he said. (NAN)

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