Reps protest NAMA’s exclusion from 2023 budgetary allocation.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has spoken out against the exclusion of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) from the 2023 budgetary allocation, requesting clarification from the Minister of Aviation.

This call was made by the committee’s chairman, Nnolim Nnaji, during the committee’s 2023 budget defense meeting with the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who led Ministry officials to the National Assembly.

The Chairman’s remarks were prompted by the agency’s omission in the 2023 appropriation Bill, which he stated would be corrected.

Nnaji stated that NAMA is a critical safety arm of the aviation industry that should not be overlooked.

He did, however, emphasize the need for the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, to provide clarification on the exclusion of NAMA from the 2023 Federal budget, while also stating that his Committee was already deliberating on the issue with its Senate counterpart to ensure that the anomaly was rectified during the appropriation process.

Honourable Nnaji stated that the current security challenges have put enormous strain on the industry’s available infrastructures, and that the country cannot afford to ignore the needs of a safety agency like NAMA.

Because some of the projects had been ongoing since 2020, the committee chairman stated that the committee would critically examine the performance of the Ministry’s budget from 2020 to 2022.

He emphasized that the committee expected the current budget performance report to include full implementation details for the previous two budget years.