FAAN Allegedly Pays Staff Half Salary After Top Officials, Children Stole Over N750M

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has come under fire for paying staff members half salary for the month of July.

This is coming after top officials were accused of stealing over N750m from the organisation.

Top sources at FAAN, who spoke with SaharaReporters, said senior officials and some of their children worked together to get an old contract re-awarded.

The contract had previously been awarded to the current Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika.

However, the top FAAN officials led by the Deputy General Manager of Procurement, Mrs Ishola, a prime suspect in the racket, forged documents with a letterhead of the Ministry of Aviation to get the contract re-awarded and defrauded the organisation to the tune of over N750m.

Other officials involved in the racket include son of the Admin General Manager, Sodiq Musa; one Kayode; Shehu, an official at the Accounts Department, amongst others.

The fraud carried out by individuals in the Procurement Department was aided by the officials of the account and audit departments as the racket’s success will be impossible without the knowledge of the two departments.

After the fraud was detected, the FAAN set up an internal committee to investigate the officials involved.

SaharaReporters’ sources, however, revealed that although FAAN had a committee set up to investigate the crime, the same authority also covered up the result of the investigation after it was discovered that top officials were involved in the racket.

“The same people who did this are also the same guys the Ministry of Aviation use when they want to divert money through procurement,” the source said.

The source went ahead to reveal that FAAN secretly suspended some of the officials involved to avoid public backlash.

Staff members affected by the July pay cut disclosed to SaharaReporters how they worked throughout the lockdown period with a promise of extra allowance during the time.

They also disclosed how they’ve had to work without protective equipment to shield them from the deadly Coronavirus.

A senior management staff of FAAN revealed how the management of the organisation awarded millions of naira for feeding of staff but that the food never got round.

The staff, who spoke with SaharaReporters, said, “They said the food they gave us everyday was audited at N5,000 but I’ll get more quantity and better quality for N5,00 at food joints around the airport.”

Condemning the development, aviation unions in a statement on Thursday night rejected the payment of half salary in the past month.

The statement read, “We observed with total dismay the payment of July, 2020 half salary to FAAN workers which the unions are not aware.

“This came as a rude shock to the unions because we have vehemently rejected payment of half salary in the past.

“This attitude by management is against the principle of collective negotiation as it undermines the labour law.

“By this action, we are mobilising all FAAN workers nationwide for protest starting from Wednesday 5th August, 2020. This is a red alert notice.”