Aviation Minister, Sirika Under Fire For Spending Whooping N12bn On Ten Firefighting Trucks

Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation, has come under fire for spending a whopping sum of N12 billion to acquire 10 firefighting trucks in Nigeria Airports. 

 Sirika disclosed on Sunday that he commissioned ten firefighting trucks for the Federal Airports Authority, FAAN.

 In his post through Twitter, a microblogging site, Sirika revealed that FAAN had not bought firefighting trucks in 15 years. 

 “Just commissioned 10 Firefighting trucks, the total cost of over 12Bn Naira. More to come in due course. Safety has been the Buhari focus in Aviation since 2015. 

Hitherto, FAAN has not bought new trucks in 15 years”, the Minister posted.

 However, in a swift response to Sirika’s post, Nigerians said spending N12 billion on Ten firefighting trucks is a fraud. “How would Ten fighting trucks cost N12 billion?” Nigerians queried.

 Nigerians’ reactions below:

 According to the Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress and an activist, Omoyole Sowore, the Minister and President Muhammadu Buhari had finished Nigeria.

 In his tweet, he said: “Wow! You mean you bought a single fire engine for over $2 million each. Wonders shall never cease. You and @mbuhari really finished Nigeria!”. 

 @Mood Obidient wrote: I can confirm that Firefighting trucks are expensive depending on the model, and it is in the interest of Nigerians to know the exact specification before concluding. Yes, the 10 Firefighting trucks can also cost 12Bn Naira depending on the dollar exchange rate. 

 In fact, according to The Morning Call, a ladder truck for Forks, Indiana, was estimated to cost $2.5 million. Dover fire department estimates it costs them $840,000 to put a fully equipped pumper engine on the road. Please inform the public of the exact Firefighting trucks purchased 

 @Valchekwas wrote: I spent the last hours researching how much fire trucks cost; the expensive high-end trucks cost $650,000 (which Nigeria never gets the best of, I can bet these are used trucks too). NYC fire fighting trucks cost $550k each; what truck did you buy for $2.8m You, sir and your cohorts are thieves. Give the spec of this truck and what makes it N1.2B each— the ridiculous broad daylight robbery of our coffers.