…raise transparency questions
By Dickson Omobola & Matilda Ikediobi
Following Federal Government’s decision to concession Akanu Indian International Airport, Enugu, aviation stakeholders have faulted the processes leading to the deal.
They specifically questioned the metrics applied in choosing Aero Alliance as the concessionaire.
Last week, the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development said its Minister, Festus Keyamo, had formally signed the concession agreement for the airport, saying it was a major milestone in government’s drive to modernise Nigeria’s aviation infrastructure through strategic public-private partnerships.
The Minister’s Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Tunde Moshood, stated that while the main concession agreement had been concluded, two operational issues (security charges and the financial model for airport operations) would be resolved in the coming weeks to ensure smooth implementation.
Before now, reports of an 80 years concession arrangement had sparked controversy and disapproval among industry stakeholders.
However, speaking with Saturday Vanguard after the agreement was signed, Keyamo disclosed that the period of concession is 30 years.
Commenting on the development, aviation analyst, Group Captain John Ojikutu, retd, expressed support for the concession of international airports, but said it should not exceed 20 years to enable government assess the profitability of the arrangement.
Ojikutu also said the focus of concession should be on non-aeronautical services, adding that no international airport should be concessioned alone without being paired with at least four domestic airports.
Speaking to Vanguard, he said: “It (the concession agreement) is not different from Nigeria Air by Sirika. How can you concession an airport without involving people? How many companies bidded for it? During former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s time, there was a commercialisation and privatisation decree, and it still exists till today. Why will the minister do this on his table? Why was it not made open to the public? Why just one airport? Why is the concession not done for all the non-aeronautical services at the airports?
“If Enugu Airport will be concessioned, it should not be done alone. Concession it with other smaller domestic airports. We have five international airports and I have told them that they should not be concessioned alone. Each should be concessioned with at least four domestic airports so that government’s limited resources are not used to service them. The maximum period should be about 20 years, so government can assess how much revenue it is making from the arrangement.”
However, the Chief Executive Officer of Belujane Konzult, Mr Chris Aligbe, disagreed with Ojikutu, saying 30 years is a normal concession period for an airport.
Aligbe told Saturday Vanguard that public concern should focus more on the terms of the concession rather than its duration. He said: “30 years is normal, but what should bother everyone are the terms of the concession. Concession agreements vary. It could be 15, 20 or 30 years. There are even ones that last up to 50 years. However, the most important thing are the terms of the agreement, which include the model and financial details.”
Also, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, and Association of Nigeria Aviation Professional, ANAP, expressed concerns over the agreement and demanded its reversal.
General Secretary of ATSSSAN, Frances Akinjole, Secretary General of ANAP, Abdul Rasaq Saidu, and General Secretary of NUATE, Sikiru Waheed, in a letter addressed to the Minister on January 26, said: “Workers’ representatives in the concession committee were effectively sidelined, thereby sidestepping the necessary labour issues that were supposed to be embedded in the contract after the expected agreement that addresses the labour issues had been signed with our unions. No agreement was ever signed with our unions in this regard. Hence, the process was incomplete to warrant the signing off of the concession agreement of the Enugu airport as it happened last week.
“This patent lack of transparency that envelops the processes that culminated in the signing of the agreement has caused serious acrimonious agitation among the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, staffers across Nigeria.
In view of the flagrant display of insensitivity to the interests of the would-be-affected staff of the airport, our unions hereby reject the celebrated concession agreement, and implore the Minister to urgently reverse the process to allow for the proper things to be done.”
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