Aviation stakeholders seek transparency in airports’ concession

Aviation stakeholders yesterday backed the move by the federal government to concession some airports.

However, the stakeholders under the aegis of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ART ) cautioned that the process must be done transparently.

This came days after the sector unions rejected the move, insisting it was not in the best interest of the country.

Daily Trust reports that the federal government has despite the opposition mostly from the unions, carried on with the process.

Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika had the penultimate week received certificate of compliance from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) giving the government the stamp to continue with the process.

The airport terminals slated for concession included the MMA, Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja; Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.

Aviation unions while opposing the move stated that instead of concessioning the airports, the government should encourage private investors to build airports in any state they so desired.

But ART in a statement yesterday “welcomes the recent decision of the federal government to concession some of the airports.”

It urged all involved in the concession process “to exercise due diligence in order to reach a conclusion in the best interest of the nation.”

The stakeholders noted that the series of unresolved litigations and acrimony from past concessions “have compromised the atmosphere of trust and confidence desirable in the industry.”