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The recent hijack or takeover of the collection of tolls at the access gate of Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos by Aviation workers’ unions on Monday has raised an issue of urgent national importance as the country continues to preach Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) in infrastructure development.

However, at the height of the hijack crisis on Tuesday, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) issued a statement announcing the termination of the concession of the tollgate.

But rewind back to during the era of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who collapsed all federal tollgate on grounds of poor remittances upon rising vehicular traffic across the affected federal highways.

Now, fast forward to Lekki-Epe toll road which was technically taken over from the core investors and the company taken under what analysts described as hostile acquisition.

Today, indications are rife that the Lekki Concession Company (LCC), originally owned by investors, who built the highway, is now a department in the state Ministry of Transportation rather than a private company, thus making nonsense of PPP.

Since the advent of the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, there had been back and forth decision to either toll all federal highways or not amidst fears of poor transparency and corruption.

Relying on the same intractable fears of corruption, aviation workers’ unions on Monday, made good their threat to take over the collection of tolls at the access gate of Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos.

Members of the unions, in their drove, stormed the access gate as early as 7a.m. to chase away officials of the concessionaire, and replace them with officials of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Fact check revealed that the hijack plan had been loading since the contract of the concessionaire, the Integrated Intelligent Imaging West Africa Limited (ICUBE), expired exactly February 2019 and nothing was done to either renew or pick another concessionaire, thus breading the anger and suspicion of corruption after all.

The MMIA tollgate hijackers, under the aegis of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and National Association of Air Transport Pilots and Employees (NAAPE) faulted the monthly remittance of N68 million to FAAN, describing it as too small compared to the high-traffic flow that funnel through the toll centre daily.

To them, based on the jumping vehicular traffic powered by reconstruction of the highway and even increased toll fees, there is no way monthly remittance should continue to be N68 million. No doubt, this argument of the workers is convincing, but authorities seem to be silent.

In his media briefing on the matter, the General Secretary of ANAP, Abdulrasaq Saidu, decried that politicians had messed up the system through illegal concession of revenue points at the airports

According to him, the concession of the access gate was fraudulent without a review of the contract for more than five years, despite a rapid increase in vehicular traffic. He blamed some individuals in FAAN and the aviation ministry for the “fraud”, saying they had compromised over the access gate’s concession.

Giving an insight, Saidu explained that following series of meetings held with the aviation minister and the FAAN Managing Director at different occasions, “it was made known to them that workers were going to take over the access gate and run it by FAAN commercial department to raise its revenue.”

In her remarks during the hijack, the deputy national president of ATSSSAN, Sarah Rimdams, said the workers came “to recover their revenue points back to government, as the contract with ICUBE expired last February.”

She disclosed that the access gate was being test run by FAAN, to know the actual amount the facility generates monthly. She was optimistic of a better return than N68 million.

In response to the forceful takeover, the manager of ICUBE, Toluwaleke Abajingin, claimed that ICUBE had been paying FAAN up to date, and were never informed about any upward review of the contract or otherwise.

From the manager’s response, it is very clear that some people somewhere had failed to do the needful which is reviewing the concession and the concessionaire is aware of the need for upward review, but things continue to remain standstill as FAAN continue to lose fortunes.