The Federal Government has plans to
concession the management of the Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano
airports to private investors.The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi
Amaechi, made the disclosure on Wednesday in Lagos during a fact-finding
tour of facilities and agencies at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
He was accompanied by the Minister of
State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika; Director-General, Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority, Muhtar Usman; Managing Director of the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria, Saleh Dunoma; and the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency, Ibrahim Abdulsalam; as well as the Director-General,
Nigeria Meteorological Agency, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, among others.
The minister said the planned concession
of the four airports was to guarantee efficiency and good management in
view of dwindling resources from the government for infrastructural
development in the aviation industry.
Although, Amaechi did not disclose the
airports that would be privatised, there were indications that the Lagos
airport; the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; the Port
Harcourt International Airport; and the Mallam Aminu Kano International
Airport, Kano were the aerodromes slated for concession.
Amaechi also gave December 2016 as the
deadline for the completion of the four major international airport
terminals under construction in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.
He stated that after completion, the
Lagos airport would handle 15 million passengers annually, while the
others would handle additional 15 million passengers to bring the total
traffic to 30 million passengers annually.
The minister said, “The new terminal in
Lagos will generate additional 15 million passengers annually, making a
total of 30 million passengers yearly nationwide. The medium and
long-term plans will require significant investments to upgrade and
expand infrastructure to meet current and future requirements.
“As a result of limited resources for
capital project development, the government is exploring the possibility
of private sector participation towards the realisation of the
industries’ potential.”
Amaechi stated that there was an urgent
need to continue to improve on infrastructure, noting that out of the
four conveyor belts in the Lagos airport, two had broken down.
He said the government would also enact laws to open up the sector to new investments that would lead to economic prosperity.
Ameachi, who described the tour as
necessary to enable the ministry firm up its policy direction in line
with the determination of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration
to improve critical infrastructure that would help to reflate the
economy, said the transport sector held the key to the economy and
formed the basis of all socio-economic interactions.
“Nigeria suffers the bane of inadequate
transportation but perhaps worse than other countries. Nigeria’s huge
population puts enormous pressure on a very poor transport
infrastructure that bedevils the nation,” he said.
The minister stated that there would no sacred cows in the recovery of debts owed the various agencies.
Collectively, Nigerian carriers are said
to owe NAMA, NCAA, NCAT and NIMET over N4bn in Passenger Service Charge
and Ticket Sales Charge, prompting the NCAA to give them a two-week
ultimatum to pay up or be grounded. Not much is heard about the
ultimatum as Usman admitted that the agency was still pleading with the
airlines to pay.
The NCAA DG stated that there were
historical debts, stressing that what the aviation was guarding against
was the accumulation of more debts, a situation that had made the agency
to offer services to the carriers on a cash and carry basis.
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