FG’s plans to concession airports, float airline in May suspicious—Experts
More experts have started picking holes from the final shift of concessioning four leading airports and floating Nigeria Air to the very last month of the regime, May as suspicious in its entirety.
Industry observers say such a plot is to create serious challenges for incoming government. According to analysts, the outgoing government had all the last eight years since May 29, 2015 to overhaul the Nigerian aviation industry but kept meandering until the very last month of the administration to create problems in the sector.
several officials of Aviation agencies who spoke with Business Hilights in Lagos on Thursday argued that the entire concessioning plot were faulty and may not stand after all.
Recall that the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had said the Federal Government will complete the ongoing concession of some international airports and the launch of Nigeria Air before May 29.
He spoke against the backdrop of the various controversies and litigation surrounding the national carrier project and airport concession programme. He made this known at the ongoing National Aviation Stakeholders Forum 2023 in Abuja on Thursday. Sirika said, “Negotiation meeting with the Ethiopian Airlines Group Consortium and the Federal Government of Nigeria ongoing. Next step: Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval of the Full Business Case (FBC). We will commence the operation of local and international flights soon. Before the end of this administration, before May 29, we will fly.” According to the minister, the project is 98 percent completed. ‘All of the roadmap items except perhaps the airline which in my opinion is in 98 percent completion, and we will fly within these remaining two months by the grace of God. We will also finish the airport concession. So, all those things we said we will do when we came in, we did them,” he added.
