SAN FRANCISCO, November 10, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has yet again made budgetary allocation for its proposed national carrier, Nigeria Air as it intends to spend N1 billion on the project in 2021.
This was contained in the Ministry of Aviation’s 2021 fiscal expenditure in what it captured under the line item: “Working capital for the establishment of the national carrier.”
THEWILL recalls that the Minister for State Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had in 2018 unveiled the name and logo of the proposed national carrier but barely two months after, the Federal Government suspended the plan.
However, the government has continued to make budgetary provisions for the project. In 2019, the sum of N8.5 billion was apportioned in the 2019 Appropriation Bill.
Similarly, the administration proposed N4.6 billion as “working capital” for Nigeria Air in the 2020 budget estimates, although it was unclear how much of it was released.
If approved by the National Assembly, the latest allocation — listed under “ongoing projects” of the aviation ministry — will take the total budget allotments for the suspended airline to N14.1 billion.
Although the government is silent on how much was released for previous budget proposals, the government’s fiscal performance has been consistently below average in recent years.
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