Unions in the aviation sector yesterday alleged that the purported concession of the Abuja and Kano airports by the federal ministry of Aviation (and aerospace ) was a booby trap being enacted for the downfall of the incoming administration led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
They said the move was a one-man show intending to short-change their collective aspirations and vision for the future of Nigerian airports and the aviation industry.
The allegation came a week after the ministry had announced that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, and the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, have been ‘successfully’ concessioned to Corporacion American Airports Consortium.
The announcement was made during the weekly federal executive council meeting held on May 17, 2023.
The development sparked negative reactions by the labour centre, with the national president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joseph Ajaero, describing it yesterday as illegal and a violation of the laws of the land which cannot stand.
Ajaero said the organised labour stands in solidarity with the aviation sector unions on the current concession crisis.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the unions under National Union of Air Transport Employees, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals and Nigeria Union of Pensioners, FAAN branch, said the move was an exercise in futility.
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They warned individual or entities against committing their resources to it.
The unions which were led by Comrade Ocheme Aba, general secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), said the ministry which carried out the concession does not own or run any airport in Nigeria and has no authority to do so.
They alleged that from the selection of transaction adviser to the conclusion of the concession, only the minister, his henchmen in the ministry, the ICRC and the favoured bidder, apart from the wind and walls, have any inkling of the concession process.
According to Abba, by continuing with the concession exercise in spite of having been served with court processes, the minister of Aviation (and Aerospace), Hadi Sirika is in contempt of the court.
The unions maintained that by the combined import of the FAAN Act and the ICRC procedures manual, it was evidently manifest that the entire airports concession is based on an incurably faulty foundation and a one-man show that has made it impossible for the aviation industry to grow beyond the mental acumen.
“Our effort to bring this situation to the public domain is to enable public outcry to compel the government into positive action to save the concession program, and to alert the incoming government to the booby-traps being enacted for its downfall by the outgoing government.
“This purported concession of two airports will easily win the award for the most secretive government exercise ever”, Abba said.
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