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Major concessionaires in Nigeria indebted the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria to the tune of N10 billion, the Senate Committee on Aviation has revealed.
The revelation came yesterday during a budget defense session attended by the management of FAAN led by the Managing Director, Richard Aisuebeogun. The committee however threatened to name the culprits involved.
The debt is in respect of revenue collected for FAAN by the concessionaires. The Authority, according to Aisuebeogun while responding to a series of questions by senators on the issue, had engaged the concessionaires to collect revenue on its behalf.
According to him, “The major concessionaires owing FAAN are advertising agencies, Pan-Express, Bi-Courtney, Maevis and 84 others.”
A FAAN document presented to the committee showed that advertising agencies owe N2.7 billion; Bi-Courtney owe over N1 billion while Pan-Express and Maevis owe N582 million and over a billion naira respectively.
Aisuebeogun said FAAN had been on the neck of the government to press home its position that it was uncomfortable with the arrangement made with the concessionaires.
He claimed that the Ministry of Aviation pressurized FAAN to bring back the concessionaire, when it sacked Pan-Express.
According to him, Pan-Express had been collecting revenue in the region of N104 million monthly without remitting any amount to the agency.
Noting that, “there are lacunae in the agreement entered into with the concessionaires,” he contended that government needed to look into some areas constraining the effective monitoring of the independent concessionaires.
Chair of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Anyim Ude ordered FAAN to compile and submit the names of the debtor concessionaires in order to enable it assist the agency in tracking them down.
He urged FAAN to act expeditiously and shun any act of collusion or collaboration with the concessionaires that have defaulted in making remittances of revenue collected for it.
He said to FAAN, “List all those who owe you and how much and why they are not paying. We want to know who are behind them.
“We want to know who they are and when they send the list, we will go beyond that, know the companies, go to Corporate Affairs Commission to know who the directors are and we will let Nigerians know.
“You were with us in the Senate when the list of all Nigerians who owed the banks was read on the floor of the Senate. I think we may get to that stage.
“We move from one stage to the other (and) by the time we get this list, we will like to know who are behind them (concessionaires).
“We will even give them the opportunity to explain why they are doing what they are doing so that nobody will accuse the Senate of blackmail.
“When we see them, we will know who they are and we can only know the directors of any company if we go Corporate Affairs Commission because they are registered.
“We will invite them and after we have dialogued with them and (when) they are becoming difficult, then we will take the extreme measure.”
Major concessionaires in Nigeria indebted the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria to the tune of N10 billion, the Senate Committee on Aviation has revealed.
The revelation came yesterday during a budget defense session attended by the management of FAAN led by the Managing Director, Richard Aisuebeogun. The committee however threatened to name the culprits involved.
The debt is in respect of revenue collected for FAAN by the concessionaires. The Authority, according to Aisuebeogun while responding to a series of questions by senators on the issue, had engaged the concessionaires to collect revenue on its behalf.
According to him, “The major concessionaires owing FAAN are advertising agencies, Pan-Express, Bi-Courtney, Maevis and 84 others.”
A FAAN document presented to the committee showed that advertising agencies owe N2.7 billion; Bi-Courtney owe over N1 billion while Pan-Express and Maevis owe N582 million and over a billion naira respectively.
Aisuebeogun said FAAN had been on the neck of the government to press home its position that it was uncomfortable with the arrangement made with the concessionaires.
He claimed that the Ministry of Aviation pressurized FAAN to bring back the concessionaire, when it sacked Pan-Express.
According to him, Pan-Express had been collecting revenue in the region of N104 million monthly without remitting any amount to the agency.
Noting that, “there are lacunae in the agreement entered into with the concessionaires,” he contended that government needed to look into some areas constraining the effective monitoring of the independent concessionaires.
Chair of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Anyim Ude ordered FAAN to compile and submit the names of the debtor concessionaires in order to enable it assist the agency in tracking them down.
He urged FAAN to act expeditiously and shun any act of collusion or collaboration with the concessionaires that have defaulted in making remittances of revenue collected for it.
He said to FAAN, “List all those who owe you and how much and why they are not paying. We want to know who are behind them.
“We want to know who they are and when they send the list, we will go beyond that, know the companies, go to Corporate Affairs Commission to know who the directors are and we will let Nigerians know.
“You were with us in the Senate when the list of all Nigerians who owed the banks was read on the floor of the Senate. I think we may get to that stage.
“We move from one stage to the other (and) by the time we get this list, we will like to know who are behind them (concessionaires).
“We will even give them the opportunity to explain why they are doing what they are doing so that nobody will accuse the Senate of blackmail.
“When we see them, we will know who they are and we can only know the directors of any company if we go Corporate Affairs Commission because they are registered.
“We will invite them and after we have dialogued with them and (when) they are becoming difficult, then we will take the extreme measure.”
