Sufuyan Ojeifo
3 October 2008
Abuja — Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Anyim Ude, said the Senate would henceforth monitor expenditure of the N78 billion Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) Fund, which the Presidency has just transferred to the National Civil Aviation Authority (NCCAA).
Ude applauded the decision of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to transfer the fund, adding that "I am aware that many ministers, including former ministers of Aviation and former ministers of Finance confirmed during the public hearing, all the efforts they made to get the BASA account domiciled with the NCAA, but failed."
He said: "Previous committees on Aviation also tried, but were not lucky enough. But now that we have tried and by the grace of God we have succeeded, we need a four, five and possibly 10-year development plan on how that money should be used to develop the aviation industry.
"Our Committee will not accept any ad-hoc or random choosing of projects by the different parastatals; it has to be a well-planned and progressive scheme for using the money, because this is a daily revenue that comes in; every plane that lands into Nigeria has to pay some royalty, particularly foreign planes.
"It is not the kind of thing you say use this for that; no! There has to be a sustained plan on how to rehabilitate or develop facilities in the aviation sector, knowing that that money will always be there. Section 75 of the NCAA Act makes it clear that due process and that the National Assembly will have to appropriate; the Minister in charge of Aviation will regulate the use, while the NCAA will utilise."
"Once we follow this due process, we will begin to see some progressive development in our airports and not just leaving Ikeja Airport the way it is always the same. When we travel abroad, we always see new things at the airports."
The BASA Fund caught the attention of the Senate Committee on Aviation at its recent public hearing on expenditure of the N19-billion Aviation Intervention Fund, approved and released during the tenure of former President Ousegun Obasanjo.
The Fund was hitherto kept in a special account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to which the NCAA did not have access.
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