Aviation: FG alerts concessionaires on taking over workers’ liabilities

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo said the new focus with the concession of some airports in Nigeria is to ensure that would-be concessionaires take over the liabilities they meet and to ensure that no worker of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) loses his job.

The Minister who spoke on the sidelines of the launch of the travel portal by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) at the weekend said he does not want to go in the same direction as his predecessors who found it extremely difficult to concessions some of the aerodromes because of the resistance by the workers because the process was not transparent.

“Concession is a policy direction. We have not told you that we are helpless as to the airports. We are saying that we are going to build an aerotropolis, we are going to make them proper hubs. However, we cannot do so.”

“ We are going on to attract world-class investors. We are advertising very soon for concession. However, we want to carry the unions along. It is my major focus drive. I don’t want to do it like the previous ones that led to complaints from the unions with so much resistance even from the co-bidders”.

 “The processes were not transparent enough. The workers’ jobs are safe and that is the first condition we will give that whoever wants to do concession is for them to carry our liabilities along that are the workers, make sure their jobs are safe. So, we can start talking. If their jobs are not safe, we can’t start talking “, he added.

The Minister further stated that to rebuild the sector, it would be good to take the hard roads and decisions rather than the shortcut that leads to nowhere.

He buttressed this claim with the signing of the Cape Town Convention practice direction which was tortuous but open and opened up the airline business in Nigeria and attracted foreign investments in the area of aircraft leases.

The CTC practice direction signed a fortnight ago tends to protect lessors from the seizure of their aircraft by Nigerian operators by rushing to court to seek injunctions.

The taking of the Cape Town Convention a notch further has been applauded by stakeholders in the aviation industry. That singular action by the Federal Government has raised the country’s image in the global aviation industry.

He said, “It would have been easy for us, like some previous people did to throw up our hands and say, look, it is not working. Some other people have more capacity than us and they go outside to bring those capacities to kill our local capacities. So, I am very clear as to our direction in the aviation industry and Mr. President directed that we should go that way. I want to thank Mr. President for giving us all the support.”

“I am sure you see the clear difference in policies. One says no. We cannot do it. So, go and get people from outside to come and dominate our space. I say no. Let us see how those people do it and rather, bring that same environment to our people to achieve what others who are not anyway, better than us can achieve.”

“What we have done is to take the hard road. What is the hard road? We decided to go around the world to say, Look! What do you want us to do to be like Qatar; to be like Addis Ababa? What do you want us to do? They gave us conditions.” 

Wole Shadare