The Federal Government on Thursday said it suspended the collection of certain fees, rents and charges at airports in a bid to support airlines and prevent their collapse.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said this at Thursday’s briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.
He said the fees were suspended for six months by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria at facilities that were under the control of FAAN.
On the revenue streams that were suspended by the authority, the minister said FAAN took the measures for a period of six months, from April to September.
Sirika listed the revenue lines as: “Ground rents, rents, service recovery charge and fees for concessionaires who pay yearly fixed rates in advance.”
He added, “And, of course, these are only for FAAN controlled airports. This is in addition to the N5bn that government has doled out.
“Government is still considering how it can help look into the aviation industry again and come up with solutions and further palliatives, inclusive of the earlier ones from the Central Bank of Nigeria that will be able to give loans at single digits.”
The minister said the COVID-19 pandemic was real, adding that it recently led to the death of the owner of Leadership Newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah.
Sirika said, “To say that this is real, it is real. Of blessed memory, late Sam Nda-Isaiah, a very serious minded person, very diligent, careful and meticulous, very apt has fallen to COVID-19.
“I’m almost losing count of the people that I know, friends and associates all over the places dying of this menace. The solution is to take responsibility. Please, Nigerians take responsibility for the good of all of us.”
