The 1001 questions about FG’s airports concession plan

THE aviation unions, known for their resilience, have continued to draw the attention of Nigerians to many reasons why the government should backpedal on its resolve to concession the four international airports across the country.

The unions, made up of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), in their latest move against the concession plan had identified many loopholes in the reason the federal government has given for wanting to concession the most viable airports.

The unions while wondering how the government arrived at the decision to concession the four airports, queried why the concession was not beginning with the unviable airports.

In its own position, the government attributed the reason behind the airport’s concession to lack of economic capacity to carry on and most importantly the obvious fact that privately-managed businesses are run better and more profitably than government-owned enterprises.

To an extent, the government can no longer run such businesses like airports satisfactorily in view of the ongoing economic challenges and other logistics hence; the only alternative left is to concession or commercialise.

As good as the decision would have been, the government may not have its way so easy in view of the style it is applying which negates the simple principle of transparency as pointed out by the unions.

There is no doubt that the manner in which the government is pursuing the concession plan is a far departure from what is obtained in other parts of the world and not even under the military government.

As expected, any government that believes it is representing its citizens, therefore, owes such citizens explanation as to why certain actions are being taken, at least for the sake of transparency.

It is because all these are missing out that many people including the unions are suspicious and opposing the deal as good as it ought to be.

Among the questions on the lips of the unions, like many Nigerians, include: Where lies the blueprint of the minister of state for aviation’s concession project, vis a vis the feasibility study conducted on the projects? What will be the fate of 18 other airports that depend largely on financial survival/support on the four airports listed for concessions and will these other airports not die a natural death, in the hands of a “progressive” government, with heavy job losses?

Also, which parts of the airports will be concessioned? Who takes charge of the security aspect? Who will serve as grantor to this concession? Nigerians would also wish to know if the concession shall be a contract or a lease and what will happen to existing liabilities and what about the existing 64 court litigations incurred from similar untidy concession agreements government had earlier engaged in?

The unions through the Secretary-General of the NUATE, Comrade Olayinka AbIoye have declared: “Unfortunately for us and given the penchant with which our political class makes pronouncements without deep thoughts, we became deeply worried and hugely concerned about the haste, hush-hush and secret disposition of the minister in actualising this contraption without following due diligence as practiced worldwide; while we have also observed with grave concern, the deceit and coercion that goes with the current process of concessions, that is lacking in transparency which is hugely required at this moment. What facts were presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the approval to concession, as due diligence was never followed up to the time the said FEC approval was granted?”

Looking into the argument put up by the unions, their position cannot be ignored because the points they have raised if not addressed will definitely bounce back at the end of the deal which may not augur well for the entire sector and even the country at large.

In other words, there are over ‘a thousand and one’ questions government will need to clarify to the 178 million Nigerians who have equal rights to the legacies that have been labeled for concession.

There is the need for government to convince and assure the Nigerians that this concession will not go the way of many previous ones which rather than improve on the existing situation, ended up creating more ruins.

Why these bad concessions became bad deals was not far from the shaky and shrouded foundations upon which they were laid by the government.