HURIWA warns FG against handing over 17 airports to cronies under concessioning

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on Saturday, June 18, 2022,  warned the Federal Government not to hand over 17 of the nation’s airports to cronies under the guise of phantom concession.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, feared that the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, might want to give out the airports to incompetent families and friends as parting gift as his tenure as a cabinet member ends in less than 11 months.

The group warned that such approach to concessioning of the nation’s airports won’t be tolerated and therefore challenged the Minister to make the process as transparent and fair so that competent concessionaires would take over the nation’s airports since the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, has demonstrated failure in all aspects of governance, including the maintenance of the nation’s critical infrastructure.

The Minister had, during the week, said at least 17 airports under the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) that were currently not up for concession. were going to be given to concessionaires.

The concessioning process for Nigeria’s four international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano are currently ongoing, while FAAN manages 21 airports on behalf of the federal government.

But HURIWA warned the Minister, FAAN, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and the National Policy on Public-Private Partnership, as well as all those involved in the concession process, to be guided by the principles of justice and transparency.

The statement reads in part: “The move to concession the country’s 17 airports yet to be concessioned is testament to the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari has failed in the management and maintenance of Nigeria’s critical assets which he met on ground when he came into office in May 2015.

“Sadly, seven years later, the President and his appointees, including the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, have moved to hand over Nigeria’s assets to private individuals.

“Whilst HURIWA reckons that the gains of concession, if done rightly are undeniable, we call for the integrity of the process which is highly questionable going by the notoriety of this government’s knack for massive corruption and theft of public fund with many top officials accused of fraud.

“Electricity distribution companies that were privatised were sold to cronies of government officials and today, Nigeria’s power supply system is the worst globally.

“HURIWA fears that these airports may be sold to cronies of this government and there is no way of knowing because there are no opportunities for credible civil society organisations to understudy those companies that may bid for concession of these national assets. The aviation industry must stop being opaque and the poor transparency records must be corrected.”