Nigeria: Unions kick over concession of access gate, car park, others at Abuja airport

The coalition, rising from a congress recently, faulted the process of ceding the airport’s feepaying access gate, car park and VIP protocol lounge to preferred bidder, and subsequently demanded an immediate review of the sealed agreement.

The Federal Government earlier announced the Corporation of America Airports Consortium as the preferred bidder for the airport, while ENL Consortium qualified as the reserve bidder.

The coalition, drawn from the Air Transportation Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), and the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP), said the revenue points could not be legitimately ceded without a transparent plan for revenue collection and remittances.

The coalition were also aggrieved with the concession of VIP lounge that, according to them, currently serves as offices for some FAAN officials that were forcefully transferred from Lagos in 2020.

In a communiqué cited yesterday, the unionist mandated that “all unions’ National Executives should as a matter of urgency compel FAAN management to review, if possible, stop any impending agreement related to the concessioning of protocol lounge (VIP) of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

“All unions executives should call the attention of FAAN management not to accept ceding of any part of the airport, particularly the access gate, car parks and other revenue points without proper agreements on returns of monies exceeding the existing benchmark accruable to the airport.

“That existing concession related to lounges, car parks, access gates and various revenue points should be reviewed to ascertain their level of compliance in terms of remittance of agreed amount to the government.”

A unionist, Akintola, said the norm was to undervalue the feepaying facilities for the selfish interest of a few. “But this time around, we are saying no because we know how much revenue that comes from each of those facilities. The Congress will not allow them to be given away cheaply without a transparent process. That is all we are asking for. Open the books if there is nothing to hide,” he said. (Source: The Guardian)