Aviation retirees uncover plot to hand airports over to surrogates of minister, others
Pensioners, under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), have accused the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirka, of hatching a plot to concession four Nigerian airports to his surrogates in order to be part of the prospective owners.
According to a Communiqué signed by the Secretary-General of the NUP, Emeke Njoku, and the Secretary-General of ANAP, Rasaq Saidu, the groups said that the unions had severally protested against any form of privatisation, concession or public-private partnership (PPP) of revenue points in the aviation industry, but Sirka was bent on going ahead with his plans despite their opposition.
In their claims, Sirka intended to concession all revenue points of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to himself, and that is why they have vowed to resist the surreptitious concession plot.
Welding anger-laden placards during their meeting, the pensioners insisted that revenue points of the FAAN, such as toll gates, car parks, billboards, fuel surcharges, shops and VIP lounges, were concessioned with poor results.
They alleged that “The Honourable Minister of Aviation has deliberately refused to implement the public hearing resolution of the National Assembly on the concessioning of the four viable airports: Port Harcourt, Kano, Lagos and Abuja”.
“The unions drove away dubious concessionaires when we discovered that their operations were inimical to the growth of the FAAN, especially in the area of revenue generation. The apostle of concession wants to adopt the same method of liquidating Nigeria Airways to concession FAAN to himself and his cronies.
“What they did was to announce that Nigeria Airways had been liquidated and therefore ceased to operate. What it means is that the existence had been terminated by executive fiat. Was this the right way to have liquidated a national carrier, which was established as a company through an act of the parliament, which was not abrogated at the time? It was liquidated,” the statement read.
There key concerns include that before the airports could be concessioned, the government ought to abrogate the act setting up the FAAN, stressing that the federal government has been losing revenue since the liquidation of Nigeria Airways.
Both unions therefore called on the National Assembly to intervene on the planned concession of the airports just as how it has halted the illicit concession of the Port Harcourt refinery by the Minister of State for Petroleum.
