P
ProfRem
Guest
The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Tuesday said there was no going back on the Federal Government’s plan to concession the four major airports in the country.
Mr. Sirika made the remark while speaking at an interactive session with Aviation correspondents in Lagos.
The Federal Government had indicated interest to concession the Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt international airports, to improve their safety and capacity.
Mr. Sirika noted that the protest by some aviation unions against the government’s plan was due to the misconception that the airports were going to be privatised and sold to private individuals.
According to him, the concessioning of the airports will ensure that they are properly managed, while the government will still retain their ownership.
The minister said that the current condition of airports in the country had made it extremely difficult for Nigeria to attract the desired number of passengers to transform the country into an aviation hub.
“Nigeria has potential to do between 70 to 100 million passengers annually, within the next five years, if the right things are put in place.
“Government does not have money to put into these businesses and we don’t want to sell these facilities either; so that is why we are concessioning them because it is the only way to go,’’ he said.
Mr. Sirika made the remark while speaking at an interactive session with Aviation correspondents in Lagos.
The Federal Government had indicated interest to concession the Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt international airports, to improve their safety and capacity.
Mr. Sirika noted that the protest by some aviation unions against the government’s plan was due to the misconception that the airports were going to be privatised and sold to private individuals.
According to him, the concessioning of the airports will ensure that they are properly managed, while the government will still retain their ownership.
The minister said that the current condition of airports in the country had made it extremely difficult for Nigeria to attract the desired number of passengers to transform the country into an aviation hub.
“Nigeria has potential to do between 70 to 100 million passengers annually, within the next five years, if the right things are put in place.
“Government does not have money to put into these businesses and we don’t want to sell these facilities either; so that is why we are concessioning them because it is the only way to go,’’ he said.