AVIATION MINISTRY TO SPEND N208M ON AIRPORT FLOWERS

The aviation ministry plans to spend N208 million to plant flowers and trees in the country’s five main airports. They include Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Enugu airports.
This is contained in the 2014 budget proposal currently before the National Assembly.
Also, the ministry will spend an estimated N18 billion out of its N26 billion earmarked for Capital Expenditure to remodel the country’s airports.
It will also spend N100 million “security gateway on express roads.” The budget is silent on which roads the security will be provided.
The sum of N100 million will be spent on fencing airports.
However, part of the responsibilities of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is the provision of security around the airports which include fencing.
Coordinating Spokesman of aviation agencies Yakubu Dati in reply to a text message from Daily Trust reporter whose job it was to fence the airport, wrote “its FAAN’s responsibility.”
The ministry will also purchase air navigational equipment with N300 million.
It also plans to maintain agreement for the Total Radio Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) support with N820 million and N200 million on ‘cabling all airports’.
Additionally, N110 million will be spent on airport toll gates and another N100 million to paint and repair runways.
A breakdown of figures contained in the budget proposal for the ministry, indicates that despite the ministry’s claims that the Aerotropolis project (city-airports) is purely a private sector driven with little government commitment, the ministry will shell out N100 million to Aerotropolis Consultants. It is N110 million less than what it appropriated for the same purpose in 2013 (N210 million).
Like last year, the ministry will spend over N13 million on refreshment and meals in 2014 but will spend less on publicity and advertisement this year with N9 million, compared to N13 million which it spent in 2013.
With a total allocation of N32.3 billion in 2014, the ministry’s 2014 total allocation suffered a cut to as much

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