The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has cautioned Nigeria and other countries planning to concession or privatise their airports to exercise restraints, stressing that they must try as much as possible to protect what it described as important national assets with ‘ironclad regulation’ that prioritises the nation interest.
The Director-General of IATA, Alexandre de Juniac stated this in his remark at the IATA Global Media Day in Geneva, Switzerland recently.
He warned that Air Traffic Management (ATM) must be taken into consideration should countries insist on going ahead with the exercise, just as he warned nations to learn from past mistakes.
He said, “Getting these right is difficult to do. To be blunt, we have not seen an airport privatization that has fully lived up to expectations. Our members (Airlines) are very frustrated. Airport privatization is an issue that needs careful attention and urgent thinking. It will be a main focus for IATA in the coming years.”
The Federal Government had earlier through Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo hinted that government had concluded plans to concession Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt and Kano aerodromes citing the plans to make it not only efficient but generate money because of scarcity of funds to other critical sectors of the economy.
To that end, Minister of State, Hadi Sirika had moved swiftly to set up modalities for the concession by setting up a committee to midwife the process.
The plan had evoked reactions on the propriety or otherwise of the new move.
Although the planned project has led to protests by the sector’s workers’ unions who vowed to resist the attempt to concession the aerodromes, experts said it is on record globally that the government made mistakes in the past by dabbling into so many businesses that should ordinarily be handled by individuals.
Those who are for airport concession are quick to cite the Murtala Muhammed Airport Domestic Terminal (MMA2) as a good example of private sector-driven development.
The terminal was built by Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) under a build, operate and transfer agreement. The terminal was opened in 2007 and today when compared to the airport terminals being managed by FAAN, MMA2 is relatively more sophisticated in terms of passenger facilitation, modern facilities and IT equipment. However others have urged the government to exercise caution in order not to repeat the mistakes that have besieged the concession agreement of the MMA2 which has resulted in legal issues between FAAN and BI Courtney Aviation Services Ltd.
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