There seems to be no going back on the resolve of the federal government to finally concession the country’s airports for improved standards and better services.
Attesting to this was the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo while addressing the aviation journalists at the Murtala Muhammed International airport.
The airports already set aside for concession as approved by the President Bola Tinubu led government are: Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja; Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano and Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.
To show the government’s commitment towards the execution of the airports concession project, Keyamo revealed that advertisements for the exercise would soon be published in the media, while he declared that unlike in the past when such attempts attracted various crises on the premises of lack of transparency, the President Bola Tinubu government would eschew such unpleasant experiences by carrying along all the relevant stakeholders.
He however, promised that any concessionaire that wins the bid for the planned airports concessioning exercise would also bear the liabilities of the Federal Government relating to the aerodromes.
In the execution of the airports conssioning project, Keyamo pledged to carry the industry unions along even as he assured that no staff of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) would be affected as a result of the policy.
His words: “We are advertising very soon for airport concession, but however, we want to carry the unions along. This is my major focus in this drive. I don’t want to do it like the previous ones, which led to several complaints either from within, resistance by the unions, other people and even the co-bidders that the processes were not transparent enough.
“First things are my brothers in the unions; your jobs are safe and one of the first conditions we will give whosoever that wants to do concession with us is that they should carry our liabilities along. Make sure their jobs (FAAN staff) are saved, then we can start talking; without this, we can’t start talking.
“We are looking for the best partners in the world to come and collaborate with us in turning the airport around and running them professionally. And all will be to the ultimate benefit of Nigerians.”
“We are going public very soon and it is going to be the best. I spoke to Mr. President about it. Mr. President said, Minister, go for the best. Nobody is interested in whoever is coming to do it. The process that was done before, maybe you asked that there was a process before we came into office. We halted that process because there were complaints.
“There were litigations. People went to court. It was not transparent enough. But under this government, under Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government, it is going to be as transparent as possible.”
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