We will continue planned airports concession – FG

The Federal Government has said it would go on with the planned concession of major airports across the country.

Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said this while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Background:

  • The Federal Government had announced the planned concession of airports in the country.
  • Members of the Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association and the National Union of Air Transport Employees had protested the planned concession.

What is happening:

  • The Murtala Mohammed Airport is serving more than its capacity of 200,000 travellers per annum.
  • Government does not have the resources to upgrade the facilities to handle the increasing number of travellers.
  • The government would try its best to ensure that jobs were not lost.

He said, “At the time the concession of some government assets started, we were not knowledgeable in what concession entails but today we have the knowledge and it will be transparently done with active participation of workers in both the delivery and the steering committees to drive this process.”

He added, “I have to say that we have been meeting with them but the policy of the government is that we cannot fund aviation infrastructure today through public budgets. The money is not there. We intend to get the private sector to come and put in their money.

“The policy has been done that it will go through concession, to give to some individuals who will build, operate, maintain, sustain, make money and the government will also make money in the process and the airports will be returned to the government after a number of years between 20 to 25 years. This will be transparently done; this is the catch phrase, so we are proceeding.”

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