National Assembly Makes Case For Minna Airport
(VON) Chairman of the joint Appropriations committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, Senator Danjuma Goje, gave this indication on Wednesday while addressing participants on the final day of the maiden public hearing on the National Budget.
Senator Goje assured Nigerians that the Appropriations committee will allocate some funds to the transport ministry, to facilitate the rehabilitation of facilities in the airport so that the Federal government can open it as viable alternative to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
“And I want to assure you that this year, we are committed to making reasonable allocation to the ministry of transport, to ensure that His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari should be able to commission the airport next year,” he confirmed.
“The Minister of transport said recently that at least next year they hope to commission the airport and if we are looking at next year, it means we have to make substantial allocation in this year’s budget for our airports including Minna. This allocation will also include the rehabilitation of roads that traverse the whole of that area.”
Abuja Airport Closure
Recently, the Niger State Government had requested the federal government to consider using the Minna airport as an alternative airport during the six weeks closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, when the runway will be undergoing rehabilitation.
And the state government’s series of advocacy in that regard seem to be receiving the desired attention, considering the outcome of the three day budget hearing especially the statement from the Appropriations committee Chairman, Senator Danjuma Goje.
Senator Goje also applauded Nigerians for their commitment towards entrenching a transparent and people oriented budgeting process as demonstrated by the large turnout of participants at the three day event.
According to him, the budget hearing has been adjudged successful because of the aggregation of shared opinions from various parts of the country which has made the 2017 Appropriation Bill richer. He therefore gave the commitment of the National Assembly to reflect every aspect of the input from Nigerians who participated at the public hearing.
VON
