Aviation workers in the country have condemned draft agreement documents on airport concessions, citing a lack of transparency and stakeholders’ input.
The workers noted that the process of the airport concessioning is flawed from the appointment of the concessionaire to date, as they are not aware of how and when the bid was advertised.
They also accused the federal government of sidelining the workers and the unions and ignoring their demands.
The workers said the right procedure is to advertise the bids in national dailies and allow up to six months so that anybody that wants to bid will come, “sit around the table with the staff and consider the staff welfare, the labour-related matters”
LEADERSHIP reports that during a Town Hall meeting earlier in the year, the minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, assured the unions that the federal government would be transparent in its concession process.
Keyamo had said the unions’ representatives would be involved in discussions surrounding the concession of the airports, promising to instruct his Special Assistant on Public-Private Partnerships to keep the unions’ leaders informed about the plans.
But, speaking at Freedom Square at the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), in Lagos, on Wednesday, during the union Congress, the union leaders accused the minister of sidelining the workers and the unions.
Addressing workers, the President of the National Association of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Comrade Ben Nnabue, called for the restart of the whole process and allowed for bids by interested organisations in a transparent manner.
“They should start afresh, so that all Nigerians who want to participate in the ownership of the airport will participate.
And all the airports have to come together, weigh them, and know their value”.
Nnabue said the unions are not aware of the process being used for the concession process and called for the resolution of all labour issues before delving into the concession.
He added that labour demands are not being attended to, while the minister has announced that he has gotten approval from FEC to concession the Enugu airport.
“So we just want the world to know that before any concession can take effect, the labour issues must be discussed and handled.”
He noted that the process is flawed from the appointment of the concessionaire to date, as they are not aware of how and when the bid was advertised.
“The airport belongs to Nigerians. It’s a federal government structure or institution. So you cannot, at midnight, decide on who to give the airport to without declaring it open to all Nigerians. So, we are demanding that they cancel the concession process, advertise for the concession globally.”
According to Nnabue, this will ensure that all interested parties will bid for the concession.
“We have also requested that we cherry-pick, the airport is not the best because the rate value picked from one airport is used to better another airport”
Also addressing the workers, the president general of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) Comrade Alale Adedayo, condemned the way and manner the whole process of concession was being executed by the minister without carrying them along despite his earlier promise to involve them in the process.
Comrade Adedayo called for a reversal of the concession process and make it transparent.
“Let there be national dailies, advertisements. Then for a good six months so that anybody that wants to bid will come, sit around the table with the staff and consider the staff welfare, the labour-related matters”
“Our members are not part of the committee, they dodged, they pushed outside, they did not even call us for any meeting again. Before you know it, they rushed down to the FEC and got their approval.”
“We have been sidelined. I’m telling you, we have been sidelined. That just twice we attended, even if it was by force, we got ourselves involved in that meeting.
He gave the assurance during the Aviation Stakeholders’ Forum held in Lagos at the weekend.
