Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, has said the amount spent on travel tickets and Duty Tour Allowance for top officers of the Federal Airport Authority who flew to and from Lagos to Abuja amounted to about N1 billion in one year. 

In a post on his X platform, Mr Keyamo stated that some of the major officials’ overseas tours occurred virtually every day. 

The minister made this statement in response to a previous interview he gave on Channels TV Politics Today on Wednesday, during which he discussed a number of topics pertaining to his ministry.

Earlier, there had been controversy around FAAN’s statement on January 18 that it was moving its headquarters from Abuja, the country’s capital, to Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub.  

Some Nigerians, particularly those in the northern region, responded to the statement with disapproval, arguing that it is an attempt to further pauperise and under-develop the North. . 

 However, in response to the controversy, Mr Keyamo declared that the FAAN headquarters’ planned relocation from Abuja to Lagos would not be abandoned. 

He added that flight tickets cost over N450 million, saying “We are going ahead. N450 million on tickets alone?.’’ 

Dismissing claims by opposition to the move, the minister described the criticism as “a storm in a teacup,” noting that over 100 FAAN employees worked in Lagos, with a handful in Abuja, including top directors. 

Speaking further on the cost accrued on DTA travel expenses, Mr Keyamo via his X platform said that the total amount spent on DTA travel expenditures in a year was N493.9 million. 

He added, “When I did my Channels TV interview yesterday, I had not been briefed as to 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 on a daily basis. “The amount came up to N493, 678,620.37. This is aside from the air tickets which I mentioned that 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 the principal officers), FAAN spent close to N1 billion in one year! ‘’