President Bola Tinubu, has approached the House of Representatives for the approval of about N24 billion as refund cost for the Federal Government to take over airports constructed by Kebbi and Nasarawa States.
The President’s request was contained in a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen and read during plenary of the House on Thursday, showing details as refund of over N15 billion to the Kebbi State Government and nine billion naira to the Nasarawa State Government.
Kebbi State had earlier spent the money to construct the Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport in Birnin Kebbi, and Nasarawa State Government spending nine billion naira for the construction of the Lafia Cargo Airport.
“Establishment of a promissory note programme in favour of the Kebbi and Nasarawa State governments for the reimbursement of the respective costs of the construction of newly built airports in those states that have been taken over by the federal government.
“The House of Representatives is invited to note that at the Executive Council meeting of the Federal Executive Council FEC, which was held on the 23rd day of May 2023, it was approved as follows:
“That a promissory note in the sum of N9,000,542,651,786.11 be issued to the Nasarawa State government as a refund for the takeover of the newly constructed Nasarawa Airport.
“That a promissory note in the sum of N15,137,336,95.88 only be issued to Kebbi State state government as refund for the takeover of Bernin Kebbi International Airport.
“The House of Representatives may wish to note that by the provisions of item three of the second schedule of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, aviation, including airports, safety of aircraft, and carriage of passengers and goods by air, fall under the exclusive legislative list.
“The impact of this is that ownership, regulation, and control of airports in Nigeria are exclusive to the Federal Government.
“In light of the above, I urge the House of Representatives to consider and grant concurrent approval for the establishment of the promissory notes programme in favour of the Kebbi and Nasarawa state governments, respectively, as prescribed in paragraph two above”, he said in the letter.
