THE Senate and the Federal Government disagreed sharply Tuesday over the N5 billion bailout approved for airline operators and other businesses in the aviation sector to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on their operations. While the Senate asked the Federal Government to raise the bailout fund, saying it was too small, the Federal Government said it could not go beyond such amount, as it had other challenges to contend with.
Speaking at the beginning of a three-day public hearing on six aviation executive bills in Abuja yesterday, Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Smart Adeyemi, All Progressives Congress, APC, Kogi West, who stressed the need for an upward review of the bailout funds for airline operators, said what the government was offering as bailout was too little to make any meaningful impact.
The three-day public hearing on six executive bills is aimed at fine-tuning regulatory issues as well as effective management of agencies in the aviation industry, especially the twin bills for an Act to repeal and enact the Civil Aviation Act, 2006 and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology Act 2010. Adeyemi, who maintained that the bailout for the airline operators was a far cry from what would be required to finance aircraft maintenance and retain workers, said: “ I do not think that N4 billion is what we are talking about. I think the FG should give the industry all the attention it deserves.
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