From Uche Usim, Abuja
Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said that restructuring of the agencies under his Ministry was one of the key policy initiatives of the Buhari administration.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja when members of the Senate Committee on Aviation visited the Ministry on an oversight function, Sirika said other key programmes of the regime include safety and security, infrastructure and airport concession, establishment of a national carrier and a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility. Others are establishment of agro-allied cargo infrastructure and establishment of aircraft leasing company. He added that all the projects would be realised through Public Private Partnership (PPP) procurement method.
On the restructuring, Sirika noted that most of the parastatals suffered from manpower imbalance, adding that their operations were not in conformity with the Acts establishing them.
“That is why we want to restructure them so they become more efficient and service-oriented,” he said.
However, fears are rife that the exercise may lead to further sack of workers as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Adamu Aliero, toed the Minister’s path as he insisted some of the agencies were top heavy, a development, he said, gulped a huge chunk of their budgets.
On the performance of the 2016 budget as at November 9, Sirika revealed his Ministry got N19,858,571,749 as appropriation for personnel, overhead and capital, adding that the total amount released stood at N8,457,010,646, while N4,290,948,284 was spent.
He stated that the balance on appropriation was N11,401,561,102 while balance on amount released stood at N4,166,062,362. In his submission, he said the total releases was 43 per cent while the total average performance was 65 per cent.
In his remarks at the event, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Adamu Aliero, lamented that some agencies were over bloated.
“There is one agency that has 10 General Managers. Paying salaries alone could take up to 30 per cent of what was appropriated as capital. That’s not good for this country,” Aliero said.
He expressed joy in the performance of the Ministry with regards to the budget, assuring that his committee would always support the Minister where necessary.