AM EDITORIAL: Transparent Airport Concession Versus Transparent Industrial Agitations
Across the world, privatization of a government enterprise or adoption of a private public partnership (PPP) arrangement is not an abnormality and has been effectively done in a manner devoid of rift that threatens industrial harmony and peaceful operations of a sector directly involved in such venture.
There are established globally accepted standards for one of the partnership models under PPP called concession, with so much emphasis on process transparency, featuring a competitive bidding by interested business concerns, labour issues, signing of agreements which state clearly, tenure and terms of the concession, among other vitals.
Experience indicates that when government intends to concession an airport, the antidote for controversies, avoidable suspicion of government’s intentions by staff, is transparency in the process of such arrangement.
It is not surprising therefore that the announcement of the conclusion of the concession of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), is attracting misgivings among stakeholders in Nigeria’s aviation industry while aviation unions are up in alms.
Minister Keyamo said it has been a “very long and tedious process regarding the concession of Enugu airport which started long ago, and culminated on the 31st of July 2025, when the Federal executive Council approved the proposal to concession the Enugu airport” and that “after the approval of the Federal executive Council, subject to contract of course, we, in the ministry, and of course, our team in the Federal Airports Authority, led by the MD, and of course, officials of Aero Alliance, we have gone through a long process of negotiations that also involved the aviation unions. We did this agreement with the rights and privileges of workers uppermost in our minds.”
However, yet to be made public is clarity about the concession tenure, revenue sharing model between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Enugu State Government and the Aero Alliance, the concessionaire.
In the light of the fact that Minister Keyamo had earlier in 2025 debunked a media report about the concession of the airport for 80 years, government is indebted to the public as regards a complete disclosure of intended policy actions such as this and all labour related issues.
Besides, there is no way the concessionaire bidding process before approval would not attract questions considering the fact that the concessionaire, Aero Alliance was just registered as a company on July 16th, 2024, with two Persons With Significant Control (PSGs), Enwereonu Chukwudi Kester and Okibe Oga Adaji. The company also allegedly, does not have any history of aviation business in Nigeria but is just a special purpose company deployed by the Enugu State Government to take over the management of the airport.
Although, Tunde Moshood, Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister said the concession of the airport was part of the government’s drive to modernize Nigeria’s aviation infrastructure through strategic public-private partnerships, questions about transparency of the process question confidence in long-term objective’s actualization.
At the signing in Abuja, the Enugu State delegation was led by the Commissioner for Transport, Dr. Obi Ozor, while the Aero Alliance team included Engr. Chuks Aniekwe, Barrister Oyiwodu Okibe-Oga, Onyedikachi Nwachukwu, Kester Enwereonu, and Barrister Michael Nwaechie of Ivy Solicitors.
Also present from the Federal Government side were the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Dr. Yakubu Adams Kofarmata; the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku; Director, Legal Services, FAAN, Mrs. Bridget Iwinose Gold, alongside other top officials of the Ministry and FAAN.
Enugu is one of the five international airports in Nigeria proposed for concession. Keyamo noted at that event that while the main concession agreement has now been concluded, two operational issues, security charges and the financial model for airport operations will be resolved in the coming weeks to ensure smooth implementation.
He said the workers have not been retrenched and that “the terms and conditions of their employment have not been changed in any way. The workers have not been shortchanged in any way at all. They remain the workers of the Federal Government and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, fully employed by the Federal Government.” He argued that the “rest is a responsibility of the Federal Government to set policies for itself, and not the workers to dictate what the government should do, what the government should not do, with its assets.”
We are worried that aviation workers are refuting the claims by the Minister that the “rights and privileges” of workers had been addressed. Our fears can be justified by past experiences such as that of ex-workers of liquidated Nigeria Airways limited, some of who have still not been paid their retirement benefits 26 years after.
Capt. Prex Porbeni, one of the retirees had during his presentation at the 100 Years of Aviation Centenary celebration in Abuja on December 1, 2025 declared that Minister Keyamo had passed the memo to President Bola Tinubu who had approved the payment and forwarded it to the Minister of Finance to effect payment. Porbeni thanked the Minister Keyamo and appealed for speedy action by the Minister of Finance.
We recall that Minister Keyamo’s successor, Hadi Sirika had claimed he piloted a process of establishing a national airline, Nigeria Air. The process was far from transparent but at the end of the day, there was never an airline. Meanwhile, public funds had been wasted.
We therefore do not ask for too much by requesting that unnecessary industrial crisis be avoided on the Enugu Airport Concession process by making the entire deal as transparent as possible to so as to achieve government’s projected intentions. AM
