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Surveyor to FG: Value Lagos, Abuja airports before concession
The Federal Government should ensure accurate assets’ valuation of Lagos and Abuja Airports before giving them out to concessionaires, estate surveyors and valuers have said. This, they said, is in order to avoid pitfalls associated with past ventures.
The call by the surveyors stemmed from the approval of the Federal Government to concession the two airports in order to improve business environment in the country. Speaking with New Telegraph, former Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV),Lagos branch, Mr.Samuel Effiong Ukpong, urged the Federal Government to conduct assets’ valuation of the facilities before concessioning them. He said there was need for the Federal Government to take stock of the cost of the assets before giving them out to private companies. He said: “We need to know the worth of the assets.
There is need to take stock of the facility and that is where asset valuation comes in. “Also, we need to know the concessionaires. If they are foreigners, we know that the government will allow them to take full decision without any interference.
But if they are Nigerians, that is where the problem lies, because the authority will still want to mediate in the affairs.” Justifying call for assets valuation and due diligent of the airports before concessioning, Ukpong recalled that the concessionares of Murtala Mohammed Terminal 2 (MM2), Messrs Bi-Courtney Services, was nearly frustrated by the government that came into power after the concessioning if not for the intervention of the judiciary. According to him, same could not be said of the hotel project embarked on by the same company, which he said has been stalled by the government.
Vice President, African Committee, International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Chief Kola Akomolede, corroborated Ukpong, saying that without assets valuation, the two airports could be given out at peanut. He described government moves about the concessioning of the two airports as “good idea,” saying that has been the practice all over the world. “Government cannot manage the airports satisfactorily because of corruption.
So, the best thing is to give them to people who can do it. However, I hope they will be given to competent people and not to political supporters who do not have the competence to manage it efficiently,” Akomolede said. Principal Partner, Akin Olawore and Co., Mr Akin Olawore, an estate surveyor and valuer, said it has become expedient for government to know the value of assets it wants to concession before giving them out.
Besides, he said there was need for the government and Nigerians to know the terms of the concessions, adding that they must know both the current and future values of the assets because they are income generating assets. Meanwhile, Chairman of H.O.B. Housing Estates, Chief Olusegun Bamgbade, has warned that the two main international airports in Nigeria should not be concessioned for certain obvious reasons.
According to him, security of the country could be compromised by the new owners, stressing that profiteering would be escalated in the hands of the new private owners of the airports. “Job security is at stake. Employees could be hired and fired anyhow and at any time by the new owners, thereby breeding unstable employment in the country. Safety of goods and luggage, as well as the personal safety of travellers could be easily compromised,” he said.
Curtailed from New Telegraph
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