Since the announcement of the suspension of the airports concession plans and the floating of a new national carrier project by the immediate past government by the minister of aviation, Mr Festus Keyamo, stakeholders and professionals in the country’s aviation sector have their weights behind the decision.
Most key players who expressed their support for the suspension because of what they called the national interest, however called for caution and ensuring that all angles should be thoroughly looked into to avoid any spiraling effect.
Speaking on the development, the immediate president of Aviation Round Table (ART), Elder Gbenga Olowo, said that the decision to halt the projects would enable the minister to obtain the full information on the concession and national carrier projects, which have divided the different interests in the sector
According to Olowo, the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos needed a surgical approach for the users to continue to enjoy the facility even as he lamented that over 40 years after commissioning, some of the fingers at the airport were yet to be built upon as spelt out in the master plan of the airport.
His words: “If I heard him well, he said he was going to go through all the outstanding projects and get a brief on the two subjects before deciding on them. That means he doesn’t have full briefs on the issues yet. In my view, I think when he has so much information, I know he will take action.
“Can we call this activism or a surgical approach to MMA1 and that is what we need and not palliative. Palliative is not the solution to the problem; it only treats the symptoms.
“We need to shut down the terminal and increase the fingers as per the master plan. For me, he has my full support on the surgical shutdown of MMA1. Let’s move to the Chinese terminal, it’s a new investment and we are not going to waste it. If we are going to do a surgical operation, there must be bloodshed. Keyamo has my full support on these two issues.”
In his remarks, the Managing Director of Centurion Security Services Limited, Group Captain John Ojikutu said Keyamo deserved commendation for suspending the two projects.
Ojikutu explained that the Federal Government needed to be more transparent on the two deals with the Nigerian public, which he alleged was lacking with the previous administration.
He said: “I think we should applaud the minister for this decision. He can do that probably because of what the former Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika has done on the ground. I have said continually that we should discard the issue of a national carrier completely.
“On the issue of airports concession, he should go ahead with it provided it is going to be the non-aeronautical aspect of the airport that he is going to concession, which is the terminal building, the car park and the rest. But ICAO is bothered about aeronautics, which is the area we are committed to. The government should not spend so much money on terminal building.
“National carrier is gone. How many countries run national carriers today? Even the British Airways and all the American carriers, they are flag carriers. What the government can do is that any airline that wants to be a flag carrier, the government must support it, but they must sell their shares to the public.
“They are going to fly on Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) arrangement routes, which is a commonwealth and doesn’t belong to anybody. All the airlines we have now, none of them is a flag carrier. If they want to be the flag carrier, they must carry the Nigerian flag and sell shares to the public. We should not open the BASA route without the Nigerian people making money from it.”
Equally, the former Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, Captain Samuel Caulcrick said the decision to halt the two projects was on track.
While urging Keyamo to get a full briefing on the two projects and brief President Bola Tinubu before taking a decision on them, Caulcrick declared: “I think we should be fair and should not stampede the regime on these two issues.”
Keyamo, during his maiden tour of the Murtala Muhamed International airport last week, had declared that he was responsible for the feelings of Nigerians on the two projects; national carrier and airports concession, though he said he had not cancelled the two projects.
According to Keyamo: “We have only suspended some things that we keep on complaining about. We are very responsive to the feelings of Nigerians. If something is good, but it is not transparent, Nigerians people must know the processes by which you give out their commonwealth. It is the commonwealth of Nigeria and Nigerians must be aware of how you give out their commonwealth in the name of concessioning.
“It should not be kept secret. Tell the National Assembly who is overseeing us and tell the Nigerian people too and let them know through you that this process was transparent and we got the best deal for Nigerians and that is why I have directed that all of those concessions should be suspended until I brief Mr. President.
“Nigeria Air should be suspended. I have directed until I brief Mr. President to make sure that everything is transparent. It is as simple as that. That is why some people are questioning my being appointed as a minister. 90 per cent of why I am here is about laws and interpretation and I will interpret it better for Nigeria.
“I am trapped between diametrically opposed and absolute and interest. If you go here, you will complain. This is not my first full press briefing of where I am going. We are talking about BASA and the airlines have complained to me about the foreign airlines hopping from here and there, but the local airlines too should give me comfort”.
