Why NLC will continue to oppose FG’s airport concession/privatisation plan

Trouble is brewing again between the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Federal Government over the unfinished business plan by the government to embark on the concession of the four most vibrant international airports across the country.

As good as the idea is, it was meant to be in view of success stories recorded in other countries where airports concession or privatisation had taken place, the country is not yet ripe for such ideology for so many reasons.

In the first instance, the concession or privatisation plan started on a shaky ground that lacked transparency and national interests.

Besides, other similar concessions and privatisation earlier carried out such as that of the Nigeria Airways ended up rubbishing the image of the country rather than improve the lot of the entity only turned the once vibrant national carrier to a dungeon crawler.

From experience, the idea of airport concession or privatisation in Nigeria has so many baggages hanging around it which may not make it work for now.

Top of the factors presently working against the planned airport concessioning or privatisation is total corruption and lack of patriotism, or how can one explains a situation whereby a government will cherry pick the only viable airports sustaining others for concessioning or privatisation?

Why can’t government start with the less viable airports or better still, why can’t government pair two less vibrant airports with solid one to help revive the low capital revenue generating ones.

In a normal clime, no government will push out its best four airports for concession without considering the future of the remaining 18 or 20.

By time you gave out the country’s best airports under the guise of sustainable development, how then will the half moribund ones survive?

These are some of the reasons why the labour unions are feeling agitated about the privatisation/concession saga as nobody is surely these four airports will not end up in the hands of some cronies of government at the expense of Nigerians who have equal rights to these national legacies.

From day one the idea of airport concession/privatisation was mooted, government has failed to carry out all the required due diligence as all plans have been shrouded in secrecy with no iota of transparency.

Under this condition, there is no way there will be no suspicion and aspersions being cast and trust unions, especially the ones in aviation, they are not pushovers and they are one of the best intelligent groups, who are ever ready to support their claims with facts and figures.

So for the NLC under the leadership of Comrades Ayuba Wabba and Emmanuel Ugboaja respectively to have come out once again to  insist that it would continue to oppose the plan to concession the airports, means something is fishy.

While describing  the move by the government to concession the Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt Airports to private business as unnecessary, the union insisted that neither concession nor privatisation of public assets were in favour of government or members of the public, as such moves would end up favouring individuals in the system.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NLC, however warned that experience showed that neither concession nor privatisation of public enterprises and assets have been to the advantage of the Nigerian people and workers.

With the way the government is going about the airport concession/privatisation policy, there is no way such plan can be realised without setting the unions on behalf of Nigerians against the government. Unless there is transparency and national interest, the plans as good it may look like is bound to fail like one of those shoddily packaged projects.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

Nigeria’s COVID-19 Infections, Recoveries, Deaths Dropped Last Week

Nigeria recorded a slight reduction in the number of COVID-19 infections, recoveries and deaths last week, Tribune Online analysis shows. Last week (February 14 to 20), 5,849 new cases were reported in the country, the lowest in seven weeks. The last time Nigeria recorded such a low figure was in the December 27 to January 2 week, when it reported 5,681 cases…

FG Owes Varsity Workers Over N150bn Earned Allowances

The Federal Government is owing the university workers, under the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU), over N150 billion earned allowances…

Killer Herdsmen: Untold Story Of Ibarapa’s Worst Nightmare + VIDEOS

“Please do not talk to my father. He is yet to come to terms with the death of his son. It is a most tragic experience. How does one quantify the loss of a dear brother? My brother was killed like an animal by two herdsmen. His offence was that he asked them to drive their cows off his already cultivated farmland,” Bisi Olaosepin, whose brother was hacked to death, struggled to hold back his tears as he relayed to Sunday Tribune the horrible experience that culminated in the passage of his brother…

Pollution, Deforestation: How Ignorance, Unclear Environmental Policies Influence Booming Fish Smoking Industry

Rays of the afternoon sun pelted her head as she fanned the embers beneath the half-cut iron drum with the smoke permeating the air. “This smoke is unbearable, Iya Maria,” said one of the three neighbours conversing under a makeshift shed about five meters away. Their voices rose and fell intermittently…

Nigeria Is Stronger Together Than Being Apart ― Osinbajo 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has admonished that despite differences in religion, ethnicity, political affiliations, or other diversities, Nigerians of all generations and from all walks of life must endeavour to commit to ensuring Nigeria’s unity because the nation is stronger together than apart…