FAAN spent N104bn illegally in 3 years, Reps c’ttee says

This fact emerged yesterday at House of Representatives during 2014 budget defence by government agencies.Mr Adeniyi Balogun, director of commercial and business development in the agency disclosed that N36 billion last year,  Balogun who was specific about the N36 billion generated in 2013 as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). He said FAAN remitted N130 million to […]

This fact emerged yesterday at House of Representatives during 2014 budget defence by government agencies.
Mr Adeniyi Balogun, director of commercial and business development in the agency disclosed that N36 billion last year,  
Balogun who was specific about the N36 billion generated in 2013 as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
He said FAAN remitted N130 million to the Federal Government and spent the rest.
Committee chairman Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC, Kano)told Daily Trust later that in 2011, the agency generated N33.1 billion and N35.5 billion f1n 2012,totaling N104.6 billion in three years.
The FAAN director said bulk of the N36 billion spent last year was used in airport remodeling among other projects in the aviation sector. There were no details for 2011 and 2012 as the committee was mainly concerned with the amount generated for 2013 for the passage of 2014 budget.
The amount was said to have been spent without any appropriation from the National Assembly.
FAAN is one of the several government revenue-generation agencies that are not included in the national budget but draw their own expenditure from the income they generate annually and remit certain amount to government coffers.
But the said agencies are supposed to seek permission from the National Assembly before any expenses can be incurred.
However, the committee, chaired by Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin (APC, Kano), queried the agency for spending the amount without appropriation.
Jibrin therefore directed FAAN to provide a detailed explanation on how the amount was expended and further demanded the agency to explain on whose authority the amount was spent as well as the law that empowers it to do so.
He regretted that at a time when a lot of concerns were raised about how some government agencies spend money without appropriation, FAAN was busy spending un-appropriated funds.
Balogun said further that despite the amount spent last year, the agency projected an IGR of N56 billion of which it intends to remit N500 million to the government.
However, Rep Jibrin said the Budget Office had submitted to the committee a projection of N17.2 billion for FAAN as its expenses for 2014 fiscal year and inquired to know if the agency was consulted before reaching the amount.
Jibrin also decried that FAAN’s Managing Director has been avoiding the committee despite efforts to get him appear to clear the air on some issues.
Balogun replied that FAAN was never consulted by the Budget Office for any such thing. This leaves a deficit of about N39 billion in the budget.
Also, the committee gave the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) up to today to appear before it as there was no representative from the corporation at yesterday’s session.
The committee equally turned down a representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)n saying the acting governor must appear in person.
The committee also rejected the presentation by the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for what it called lack of inconsistency with submissions from the Budget Office.
At the end of the session, Jibrin expressed fears that the 2014 might be unrealistic, “Going by what we have just heard, it shows that the budget may only accumulate debts.”
“The Budget Office submitted a document for revenue projections for the 2014 budget, but here are some of the agencies saying no. For instance, the Budget Office projected the revenue of FAAN as N17.2 billion but FAAN is saying they projected N56 billion with a view to remitting N500 million during the fiscal year,” he said.
The committee will engage other agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), ministry of finance among others between today and Thursday.