Airports concession: FG, unions in endless warpath

Since the announcement of the proposed concession of two major airports in the country, there has been an uneasy calm in the aviation sector, especially among the various unions.
This announcement has pitched the unions against the Federal Government as the government through the Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has not spoken in clear terms as to which area the government wants to concession, as stakeholders have argued that over 90 percent of the revenue points have already been concessioned.
When the Federal Government announced the approved concession of two major airports in the country – the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja – the backlash that trailed the announcement was predictable.
The aviation development master plan unfolded by Sirika shows that concession remained one of the highlights of his programme.
Four major airports in the country, including the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) and Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) would be given to private concerns beginning with Lagos and Abuja.
The Enugu International Airport is considered another major airport which records appreciable traffic among 17 other airports owned by the Federal Government. With 22 airports managed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the big four are only international by title.
With the recent developments at the Kaduna International Airport to meet up with the standards of an international airport as it recently received traffic diversion from the Abuja airport, following the closure of the airport for repair of the runway, just as Ethiopian Airlines also launched international flights from the state.
Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt are the four major airports, which the minister said, would be concessioned at the outset of the administration.
The announcement, though did not provide the details of the proposed concession, it nonetheless generated controversies, especially from labour unions, which vowed to resist the concession with all the powers they have.
But the government is adamant as it is going ahead with the concession which the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved.
Speaking at the fifth edition of the Presidential Quarterly Business Forum held at the State House, Abuja, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo announced the concession of the airports, saying the development would open them to private investment.
The aviation minister, while speaking with journalists at the end of the FEC meeting recently, said that government had also approved the concession of Kano and Port Harcourt airports, with the approval of the appointment of transaction advisers for the process and assured that the process would be transparent.
The minister said: “Public Private Partnership and concession of the airports had never been done in a structured and transparent manner. “The contracts were not properly prepared, no risk analysis and no financial models.
Consequently, it is not surprising that they ended in litigation. I want to assure stakeholders that we will be transparent and the concession is in the best interest of the country.
“We will ensure that Nigerians are given priority in getting jobs in the aviation sector. We will give adequate time for airlines to prepare themselves, but for sure, we will ensure that it happens soonest.”
The minister further disclosed that he had already inaugurated two committees: Project Steering Committee and Project Delivery Committee, for the concession process.
The only experimentation with concession was that of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Terminal 2, operated by Bi-Courtney Aviation Service Limited (BASL), which was concessioned 10 years ago by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. It has also been trailed by controversies especially from the workers and various unions.
However, the concession was racked by series of litigations over alleged breach of contract by both parties: the Federal Government and BASL, owned by the legal luminary and businessman, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN). For many, the concession of MMA2 as laudable and pioneering as it was, is also a bad precedence in airport concession going by the crises that trailed the concession. This was why many experts and stakeholders suggested that the current experiment with concession must undergo painstaking process; follow due diligence and legal frameworks to avoid a repeat of the MMA2 experience.
Government has only announced the concession of the airports without explaining the modalities. Experts, however, believe this process must be well thought out to make it credible. Also, many questions need answers: What areas of the airports are they concession? Is it the terminals? The car parks? The airside? What happens to workers of FAAN?
In fact, the fear of job losses has fuelled stiff opposition that has trailed the concession, especially from labour unions. The dominant feeling from labour unions has been that their jobs would be on the line once government hands off the management of the airports.

Chukwuemeke Iwelumo