Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, (BASL), operators of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2), Lagos has declared that its concession agreement with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) subsists for 36 years and not 12 years as claimed in some quarters.
The terminal operator also claimed that FAAN had denied it at least N250bn as revenue since it commenced operations about 12 years ago, following its consistent use of the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
The company insisted that GAT was part of the concession agreement from the outset, decrying that the Federal Government had refused to comply fully with the agreement it entered with it.
A statement by Eniola Ade-Solanke, the spokesperson for BASL lamented that despite the harsh operating environment MMA2 found itself, its management had been battling to improve its performance over the years.
She said: “Since inception, FAAN has not complied with the agreement to handover the GAT, which is a property of Bi-Courtney. FAAN through its actions has consistently breached its obligations in the concession agreement and has caused Bi-Courtney a loss of over N250bn.
“FAAN offered Bi-Courtney a 36-year lease in a letter dated 12th of October 2006 and an agreement was duly signed on February 2, 2007 by the Minister of Aviation. The agreement was further confirmed at a meeting held on July 7, 2009 chaired by the former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, late Mallam Umaru Musa Yar’adua, in attendance with the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Secretary General to the Federal Government, Attorney General of the Federation/Honourable Minister of Justice, Honourable Minister of Finance, MD/CEO of FAAN and the Chairman of Bi-Courtney amongst others.
“The erroneous claim against the Chairman of Bi-Courtney in making frantic efforts in the Presidency to frustrate a takeover of the terminal is not unconnected to purported attempts to stir up a false sense of alarm and acrimony against the concession.”
There was report that the Ministry of Transportation, Aviation Unit wrote to BASL demanding take over on May 7, 2019, but this was denied by FAAN and said that the report was figment of the writers imagination.
However, the BASL spokesperson insisted that MMA2 remained the best terminal in Nigeria, noting that the appropriate thing was to encourage Bi-Courtney and other private investors and developers to save the sector from abysmal management of airport infrastructure.
She assured all air operators and the travelling public in the country of its commitment to providing first-class service and maintaining the highest standard of professionalism through continuous investment in power generation, critical infrastructure development, passenger facilitation and modern technology in the aviation industry.
