AM EDITORIAL: Continuous Concerns Over Airports Concession In Nigeria
In 2015, Nigeria’s former Minister of Aviation announced government’s plans to hand over some major international airport terminals in Nigeria to private concerns under concession arrangements. As at today, October 15, 2024, no airport terminal has been successfully concessioned.
The Minister of Aviation & Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN) who assumed office ten months ago, has reaffirmed the airport concession plans. We posit that considering the status of airports in Nigeria, airports concession decision is a good step in the right direction.
Experience has shown over the years as regards public assets management, that except for cases where corrupt practices disrupt arrangements, a good product has to be given to private hands while the assets remain with the Nigerian people for it to be beneficially delivered to the people. It has long been established that the government is desirous of having the best of services delivered to the people but has no money to do what a concessionaire should do.
However, compliance with the appropriate concession procedures and transparency of the process as well as interest of airport workers have been major sources of stakeholders’ concern since the plan was first announced.
In fact, in 2020, aviation unions, under the auspices of National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), National Union of Pensioners (NUP), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) had jointly issued a statement proposing three options of approach to the concession. They are the Greenfield Concession option, Corporatization option of releasing 45% equity to government and the third option of complete autonomy of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) as concession of the key four of over 22 airports they believed, would mark the complete closure of FAAN as a profitable business concern. They then frowned at what they termed “a process of apparent compromised integrity.”
Apprehensions about the proposed airports concession plan were also driven by past experiences of airports private public partnership (PPP) arrangements that ended in prolonged litigations.
At a webinar on airports concession organized by Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), the Chairman of Bi-courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), managers of MMA2, the first airport terminal Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement in Nigeria, Wale Babalakin advised that “before another concession arrangement, it is important that the authorities decide to have a proper concession process,” adding that “in doing a concession, please, follow the law, especially if the bidders are foreigners.”
It is gladdening to know that the Federal Ministry of Aviation and & Aerospace Development under the leadership of Festus Keyamo (SAN) has declared that it is favourably disposed to having Nigerians manage aviation business in Nigeria. Minister Keyamo had declared on September 19, 2024 that a major condition for discussing the airport concession bid proposal by potential bidders would be giving priority to the welfare of existing airport workers involved in the asset to be concessioned.
We here re-echo the suggestion that workers through their unions should be represented at meetings related to the bidding processes for the airports concession, contrary to what was done in the suspended exercise of the previous administration.
The planned concession of some airports in Nigeria is necessary but lessons from flaws in the processes of the past should be taken while any existing chain in the previous arrangement should be loosed before moving on to sign new concession agreements, so that future interested investors in such venture would not be discouraged.
Key element in the process must be transparency of the process and involvement of all stakeholders, including the workers. AM
