Festus Keyamo, the Minister for Aviation and Aerospace Development, revealed that the Nigerian Government allocates an annual budget of N1 billion for Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) and air tickets for officers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) traveling between Abuja and Lagos.
Keyamo clarified his earlier statement about the ‘N500 million FAAN workers’ DTA’ during an interview on Channels Television, stating that in the year 2023, FAAN workers expended N493,678,620.37 on Duty Tour Allowance and N451,058,950.09 on air tickets.
“When I did my Channels TV interview yesterday, I was not briefed about the amount FAAN spent last year alone on DTA (Duty Tour Allowance) for the principal officers who travelled back and forth from Lagos to Abuja almost daily.
“The amount came up to N493,678,620.37. Aside from the air tickets, which I mentioned amounted to N451,058,950.09.
“So, in total, because of insistence on naming Abuja as the headquarters of FAAN (when there are no offices in Abuja to accommodate all the principal officers), FAAN spent close to N1 billion in one year,” he said.
It was reported that the minister insisted on going ahead with the Federal Government’s decision to relocate FAAN headquarters to Lagos despite opposition from certain quarters.
Recall that on January 19th, 2023, Keyamo announced the relocation of FAAN headquarters from Abuja to Lagos.
