The Nigerian government, according to Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, spends N1 billion a year on airline tickets and Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) for Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) executives who fly back and forth from Abuja to Lagos.
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In an official statement released on Thursday, Keyamo clarified his remarks on Channels Television on the “N500 million FAAN workers’ DTA.”
He claims that FAAN employees paid N451,058,950.09 for airline tickets and N493,678,620.37 for DTA in 2023.
“I was not informed about the amount FAAN spent on DTA (Duty Tour Allowance) for the principal officers who flew back and forth from Lagos to Abuja virtually every day when I conducted my Channels TV interview yesterday.
The final total was N493,678,620.37. Apart from the airline tickets, which totaled N451,058,950.09 as previously mentioned.
“Therefore, FAAN spent nearly N1 billion in a single year due to the insistence on designating Abuja as the organization’s headquarters (despite the fact that Abuja does not have enough offices to house all of the principal officers),” he stated.
Despite criticism from some quarters, the minister persisted in carrying out the Federal Government’s decision to move the FAAN headquarters to Lagos, according to Obasanjonews24.
Remember that Keyamo declared on January 19, 2023, that FAAN’s headquarters will be moving from Abuja to Lagos?