Nigerian Aviation, Finance Ministries Meet Over $500m Loan
by TOLA AKINMUTIMI on Jun 3, 2014
Nigeria National Mirror
With just one month to the commencement of the re-payment of the $500million loan secured from a Chinese firm for the remodeling of four major airports in the country, the ministries of Aviation, Finance, the Budget Office and the Debt Management Office, DMO, are to meet today to agree on the payment modalities.
The $500m loan was secured for execution of the remodeling of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano airport projects. It has a seven-year moratorium and interest payments totaling $113,912,197.66 (about N18.23bn), which re-payment will start next month.
Giving the hint of the meeting during his response to some of the issues raised by the House Committee on Aviation during its oversight visit to the ministry in Abuja yesterday, the Supervising Minister of Aviation, Dr. Samuel Ortom, said his ministry had been engaging the Ministry of Finance on how best to tackle the challenge of the huge indebtedness totaling N174.6bn on aviation sector projects.
The minister explained that, having just assumed office only two months ago, he had opened dialogue with the Minister of Finance on the huge debt portfolio, including the $500m loan.
According to him, it was agreed that an Inter- Ministerial Committee be constituted to review the debt liabilities such that the ongoing projects in the sector would not be halted and the country plunged into a debt trap.
Ortom, who took the pains to explain the huge debt portfolio of the ministry, said in addition to efforts being made by the ministry to introduce a new development levy to augment its revenue base, appeal was also being channeled to the government for a special intervention fund to help in mitigating the burden of its debt on the ongoing reforms.
Despite the challenges, the minister assured the committee that the ministry would do its best to ensure that the four airport remodeling projects were prioritised in capital budget releases in order to ensure their completion.
Earlier in her remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Nkiruka Onyejiocha, had expressed serious concern about the heavy debt burden associated with implementation of the various projects in the sector.
She said that there was need to critically re-appraise all the projects, with a view to determining the level of their implementation and the possibility of stopping any, if only to reduce the debts.
While noting that it might be practically impossible to fund the projects through yearly budgets in view of the quantum, the lawmaker disclosed that the committee would soon embark on project assessment tours to conduct due diligence on them such that those that are not so important or whose execution is yet to commence could be stopped.
She explained that the oversight visit was intended to enable the committee assess both capital and non-capital expenditure, as well as projects they were committed, with a view to ensuring that there was fiscal discipline in the use of public funds.
 |
| Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. |
Nigeria National Mirror
With just one month to the commencement of the re-payment of the $500million loan secured from a Chinese firm for the remodeling of four major airports in the country, the ministries of Aviation, Finance, the Budget Office and the Debt Management Office, DMO, are to meet today to agree on the payment modalities.
The $500m loan was secured for execution of the remodeling of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano airport projects. It has a seven-year moratorium and interest payments totaling $113,912,197.66 (about N18.23bn), which re-payment will start next month.
Giving the hint of the meeting during his response to some of the issues raised by the House Committee on Aviation during its oversight visit to the ministry in Abuja yesterday, the Supervising Minister of Aviation, Dr. Samuel Ortom, said his ministry had been engaging the Ministry of Finance on how best to tackle the challenge of the huge indebtedness totaling N174.6bn on aviation sector projects.
The minister explained that, having just assumed office only two months ago, he had opened dialogue with the Minister of Finance on the huge debt portfolio, including the $500m loan.
According to him, it was agreed that an Inter- Ministerial Committee be constituted to review the debt liabilities such that the ongoing projects in the sector would not be halted and the country plunged into a debt trap.
Ortom, who took the pains to explain the huge debt portfolio of the ministry, said in addition to efforts being made by the ministry to introduce a new development levy to augment its revenue base, appeal was also being channeled to the government for a special intervention fund to help in mitigating the burden of its debt on the ongoing reforms.
Despite the challenges, the minister assured the committee that the ministry would do its best to ensure that the four airport remodeling projects were prioritised in capital budget releases in order to ensure their completion.
Earlier in her remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Nkiruka Onyejiocha, had expressed serious concern about the heavy debt burden associated with implementation of the various projects in the sector.
She said that there was need to critically re-appraise all the projects, with a view to determining the level of their implementation and the possibility of stopping any, if only to reduce the debts.
While noting that it might be practically impossible to fund the projects through yearly budgets in view of the quantum, the lawmaker disclosed that the committee would soon embark on project assessment tours to conduct due diligence on them such that those that are not so important or whose execution is yet to commence could be stopped.
She explained that the oversight visit was intended to enable the committee assess both capital and non-capital expenditure, as well as projects they were committed, with a view to ensuring that there was fiscal discipline in the use of public funds.
No comments:
Post a Comment