Nigeria's Airport Concession Scam
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It’s no longer news the Federal Government announced the concession of 4 of Nigeria’s 22 airports; Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Aminu Kano Airport, Kano and Port Harcourt Airport.

The Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika has been quite busy with the concession agenda and is determined to make it happen for very personal reasons.
The Minister had in the past stated:
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“The money is not there. We intend to get private sector to come and put in their money.”

This directly implies the government’s lack of operational funds and the need for the proposed concession.

However, the real issue is the devil in the detail of the concession or its lack thereof. It’s no surprise the airport unions are vehemently against the concession plan, due to its lack of transparency, national security and the apparent non-provision for the welfare of airport personnel – active (6,285) and pensioners (4,124).

Among the unions protesting the concession are National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria ATSSSAN, National Union of Pensioners (NUP) and Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP).

The Secretary General of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP), Abdulrasaq Saidu stated:

“We say no to [concession], and we shall fight it with the last blood in us. We wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari on its danger, especially the security of the country. We asked questions, which are unanswered till date and we must be given full details”

Even the Vice President was roped into the stalemate, because the Vice President announced the airport concession via his Twitter handle. Following the announcement, the General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Olayinka Abioye highlighted the incoherence between the Vice President and the Minister:
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“The Vice President cannot go on his Twitter handle to say airports have been concessioned. Nigerian government is not run on Twitter. The VP said two airports will be concessioned and the minister says four, so they are in confusion, both minister and VP do not understand each other.”

The unions had given the minister a 15 day ultimatum which was later suspended following the intervention of the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige. The ongoing impasse culminated in the involvement of the joint National Assembly Committee on Aviation.‎

The crux of the airport concession is tied to the history of shoddiness that characterised previous concessions in the aviation sector. The fact remains that almost everything within Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is already tied to some sort of concession arrangement by the previous government, including ongoing legal impediments. Then the real question that arises is what exactly is going to be concessioned? 

Since the concession scheme is more or less a ruse, the actual target is the revenue stream. The reality is the revenues from the 4 major airports (Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port-Harcourt) are used to maintain the remaining 18.  Since the major airports are generating some revenue however minimal, a change in leadership might be a better alternative than concession.

As with most government agencies bedevilled with mismanagement, a change in leadership can spur good management and boost revenues. Nigerians recently witnessed how a change in leadership has astronomically boosted the revenues of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) respectively.  

The government is rife with many misfits that aren’t performing within their respective portfolios. The common reason is some of the appointees are infected with the low-hanging fruit syndrome and primarily preoccupied with political ambitions, often at the expense of performance. 

The current Managing Director of FAAN, is Saleh Dunoma. His appointment generated a major uproar within the aviation industry because he had technically fulfilled the 35 year mandatory retirement criterion of the civil service. The suspended SGF Babachir David Lawal was instrumental in the FAAN appointment of Dunoma. This appointment went ahead despite allegations of billions of naira traced to Dunoma’s bank account by EFCC. The FAAN MD, Saleh Dunoma is planning to be the next governor of Borno State in 2019.
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As the concession saga continues between the stakeholders, one begins to wonder why the desperation to concession the airports at any cost. The MD of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma is a close ally of the aviation minister, Hadi Sirika and is often referred to as a ‘front’ within the aviation circles.‎
Hadi Sirika has faced many accusations among which include; nepotism within the sector, opacity of many transactions, including the actual cost of fixing the Abuja airport runway during closure, associated costs and revenue loss, and the handling of the entire concession process. 

It is an open secret that Hadi Sirika plans to run for Governor in Katsina in 2019, and is very desperate to raise funds for his campaign. In this regard, the minister’s latest venture and probably last resort is the airport concession deal. Based on internal findings within the aviation sector, the airport concession deal will not only fetch the minister enough campaign funds for his gubernatorial ambitions but enough to ingratiate himself with ‘the cabal’, and generously donate towards the 2019 presidential campaign. 
The Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika and the President both come from Katsina and are very close. In view of recent scandals tainting the President’s anti-corruption efforts, this might be a good time for the President to rein in the Minister.

The airport concession will put paid to any possibility of a national carrier. Above all, Nigerians deserve a better deal and should not be cajoled by a concession scam!

Oro Ododo