Nigeria ready to concession 4 major international airports

• Lagos MMIA; Abuja NAIA; Kano MAKIA; PHIA Omagwa in the frame for global bids

• Approval given to minister by President Tinubu

• Minister Keyamo promises transparent process

Sade Williams/Business a.m.

Nigeria is all set to put four of its busiest international airports – Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) in Abuja, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) in Kano, and Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) in Omagwa – up for competitive international concession bids, it emerged over the weekend.

Plans to concession the airports have been in the works for years but were put on hold after the present government came into office just over a year ago. But Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s minister of aviation and aerospace development, said on Friday that he has now received the approval of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to go ahead and get the process back on track.

Keyamo was in Lagos early at the weekend to inspect facilities at the E-Wing of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, where he said the big plan for the airports, especially the international airports, remains to concession them to the best managers in the world.

“We are looking for the best partners in the world to come and collaborate with us in turning the airport around and running them professionally. And all will be to the ultimate benefit of Nigerians.

“We are going public very soon and it is going to be the best. I spoke to Mr. President about it. Mr. President said, Minister, go for the best. Nobody is interested in whoever is coming to do it. The process that was done before, maybe you asked that there was a process before we came into office. We halted that process because there were complaints. I am sure you know that. There were litigations. People went to court. It was not transparent enough. But under this government, under Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government, it is going to be as transparent as possible.

“The president gave us marching orders and said go and do it as transparently as possible. Look for the best bid, the best hands to come and turn around our efforts and run our airports. And that is where we are going ultimately,” Keyamo said.

The improvements at the E-Wing, he explained, is aimed at providing excellent customer satisfaction and creating more awareness about government zero tolerance for harassment, touting and extortion.

“There is a great improvement here. The management and staff worked very hard at making this place look very welcoming and a big lift from where it was before. This is not where we are going. This is not our big plan for the airport.

“But this is a low-hanging fruit we can hang on to for now. We want to make the place as conducive as possible for passengers who are coming into Nigeria. And that is why you can see that the management, they have actually initiated very simple ideas and executed very simple ideas to make the place very cosy. More lighting, new toilets, new signs. For instance, I want to show Nigerians this in particular. Now, we have been very concerned, Nigerians have been very concerned about the issue of harassment at the airport, touting at the airport, extortion by even uniformed personnel.

“Now, our first step in addressing this issue is what you have seen here. So for Nigerians, please look at this. When you come into the E-Wing of the international airport in Lagos, you are going to see a sign discouraging touting, extortion and general harassment of passengers coming into Nigeria.

“Now, there is a QR code. You must make use of it. Don’t come and go to the media and complain that there is nobody to speak to when you are harassed by law enforcement agencies. Use the QR code, use the hotlines and make a call there and then. Don’t say, oh, there was nobody, they dragged you to one corner and they took money from you. Make that call.

“Pick your phone and make that call and you will be attended to. We also encourage people to be courteous, to be respectful also to the law enforcement agencies at the borders. But at the same time, we have also taken measures to ensure that we put a leash around our own law enforcement agencies. So here you will see it and you will see not only this, you will see it at strategic positions around the airport. It is not the final solution to it but this is the first big step towards addressing the issue of touting,” he added.

Olubunmi Kuku, managing director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said the Authority is ready for business, adding: “but the investments we need to improve the facilities and the infrastructure in the aviation sector cannot only come in from the federal government.”

She added that the minister, for this reason, has over the past few weeks  engaged with the private sector as well as other government institutions globally “to make sure that we can better collaborate. Especially around new terminal development, when it comes to increasing our routes so there is some work around route development too.”