There is an indication that the federal government may abandon the airport concession programme, which was one of the cardinal development goals this administration wished to actualise in the aviation sector.
Minister of State, Aviation, SenatorHadiSirikahad on assumption of office declared he would concession the airports, see to the establishment of a national carrier as well as facilitate the establishment of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility.
Two years down the line,there is no indication that the government is still going ahead with any of those projects.
Informed source told THISDAY at the weekend that “from all indications, the concession programme might have been abandoned owing to the stiff resistance by the staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). Besides, the minister was said to have been under pressure by some people in government not to go ahead with the concession programme. In fact, sources said the opposition the minister is getting from some top government functionaries and the fear that if due process is followed, he may not realise the objective in the next three years all combined to frustrate his move to concession the airports.
THISDAY also learnt that from the onset, the minister had envisaged that Tav of Turkey, a company that manages most airports in Turkey would benefit from the concession.
In June last year, a group from the company visited Nigeria and toured the airport facility at the NnamdiAzikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Sources at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) said that if government wished to concession airport facilities, it must follow due process and due process demands that there must be open bidding for the airports and the process obviously would last beyond the tenure of this administration.
Senior official of the Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN), FAAN branch told THISDAY that it would not be possible for government to concession the airports as it earlier planned because of the strategy the Minister adopted to carry out the concession programme.
Sirika had planned that the government would concession the most viable airports first, which include the ones in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano and in the second phase of the other airports would be concessioned.
The unions and the FAAN workers are kicking against the concession plan, saying that the first four airports are the most viable in the country, with Lagos contributing over 60 percent of the revenues, and it is the money they generate that are used to service the other airports.
“So if government gives out these four viable airports in concession, where can FAAN get the money to maintain the remaining airports?
However, many Nigerians are in support of the concession plan, but some industry observers who spoke to THISDAY insist on due process and transparency.
The Chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) Captain NogieMeggison, said he was in full support of the concession programme, adding; “only if it will be done sincerely and transparently; because that is the solution to the infrastructural decay of the airports.”
Also the CEO of Medview Airline, AlhajiMuneerBankole told THISDAY that he supports airport concession because it will give birth to new airports in the country.
Industry consultant and CEO of Belujane Consult, Chris Aligbe told THISDAY that concession would solve the problem of airport decay and enhance the aviation industry to generate more revenue and contribute significantly to the country’s GDP.
However, a source close to the Transport Ministry denied that government has jettisoned the concession plan; insisting that the sequences of the plan is being executed.
The ATSSSAN official confirmed to THISDAY that Sirika has set up a committee, which “is looking at the airports individually with regard to their viability and with a plan to sidestep the normal concession process.”
Some top federal government officials outside the aviation sector are said to be opposed to the airport concession because “they see it as government giving out its business to private companies to monopolise.”
THISDAY
