Workers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) under the auspices of the Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) have rejected the plan by the federal government to concession four major airports in the country located in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.
This was disclosed at the weekend by the Assistant General Secretary of NUATE, Mr. Olayinka Abioye who accused government of not putting the interest of the workers into consideration and threatened that the workers would resist the plan to concession the airports, recalling that when the defunct Nigeria Airways was liquidated, workers were left to die without their pay off or their pensions which rose to over N72 billion.
The federal government said it could no longer fund the development of airport facilities due to its lean resources, so it is inviting the private sector to invest in the growth of the facilities through Public, Private Partnership (PPP) and has in its initial plan the concession of the first major airports in the country.
Many industry experts say that the only solution to access of fund for the development of airport facilities is the participation of the private sector.
Reacting to this plan Abioye said, “What we need to recognise first of all is the fact that government particularly in the last 10 years, has been shifting its core responsibilities and this may be due to globalization and neo-liberalism and it wanted to engage in what is called Public, Private Partnership. There is nothing wrong with that if it is done with honesty and it is also purpose driven. Unfortunately we do not believe, particularly with what we are seeing that Nigeria is ripe for concession and privatisation of public utilities,” he said.
Abioye noted that the major reason why workers are opposed to the plan besides lack of consideration for the interest of the workers was that all efforts in the past to concession airport facilities failed due to lack of objectivity or transparency and the few that could be described as successful were skewed in favour of the investors and against the interest of government which represent the public interest.
But reacting to the incident industry analyst and the author of the “Nigerian Aviation Fact Book, Mike Chikeka said it has become impossible for government to continue to fund airport development, noting that airport facilities would become obsolete and possibly jeopardise safety if the private sector is not allowed to rescue the sector.
“I am troubled with the state of our airports. Our airports, which are the first point of call to foreigners into Nigeria have become a national embarrassment. Nigerians are not immune to this national show of shame as they are received on arrival with a certain ambiance that leaves nothing to be desired. This has been the situation in the last three decades of our national existence,” Chikeka said.
He said that a study conducted by “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports” named three of Nigeria’s international airports as the worst in Africa. The airports are Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos (10th worst) Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, (7th worst) Port Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt (6th worst).
“We have also established a fact that government has continued to struggle with ensuring the operational viability of these airports rather than both operational and profitability of same. In the end, it is almost unattainable for government to run a profitable airport. Sadly, too, government funding continues to shrink year after year and we cannot wait for a complete collapse of our system before something is done,” he said.
Chikeka said the infrastructures in most airports in the country have become not just unserviceable but completely obsolete compared to what is obtainable in most countries of the world
“It Is not uncommon to see airline staff bashed and abused verbally and sometimes physically because passengers bags are shortlanded. A quick trace to the reasons sometimes is that conveyor belts did not drop some bags and in other to avoid delays they will have to depart the flight without the complete number of bags.
“It is a common sight to see people dripping of sweat at departure and arrival points due to unserviceable airconditioning system. And this has been the situation in the last 20 years,” he also said.
But the Assistant Secretary General, Abioye said, “I can tell you that the feelers we have received from our people, the mandate as I speak to you is that we are going to say an emphatic no to concession of these four major airports and the reasons are not far fetched. However, we are also of the opinion that if the chickens come home to roost, Nigerian workers operating in FAAN have enough money to buy up these four airports and when we get there we shall find a way to cross the river,” the Assistant Secretary General said.
