The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, said on Wednesday the Federal Government would not accept the N532 billion contract variation requested by contractors handling the Abuja International Airport second runway.
Keyamo stated this when he appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation to defend the ministry’s 2025 budget.
He said the variation was against the initial N90 billion for execution of the project.
The minister, who was responding to a question on the reported stalled execution of the project, said the contractor had moved to site after the federal government released the initial N30 billion and paid compensation to communities on issues related to land.
He said the contractor had also done excavation on the site and carried out other works from the funds released by the government and thereafter requested for the N532 billion variation.
This, according to him, was unacceptable to the government.
Keyamo said: “The variation that the contractors are bringing is a variation that I totally disagree with. I will not go ahead with that variation; the president himself doesn’t like variation.
“If a contract was awarded for N90 billion, and they are proposing N532 billion variation within a space of two years, I will not accept it. The option I have is to cancel the contract.
“So, with the situation now, we have two proposals on the table which I will take to the president, and I will consult my chairman. So we are considering various options.
“This country cannot go on with such unreasonable variations.”
