Workers reject planned concession of airports - Uju Ayalogu's Blog for News, Reviews, Articles and More

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Sunday 31 July 2016

Workers reject planned concession of airports

Workers reject planned concession of airports

Workers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) under the auspices of the Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) have rejected plans by the federal government to concession the four major airports in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.

The federal government said the plan was because it could no longer fund the development of airport facilities due to its lean resources.

It welcomed private sector investment in the growth of the facilities through Public, Private Partnership (PPP).

But reacting to the plan, Assistant General Secretary of NUATE, Olayinka Abioye, accused government of not putting the interest of the workers into consideration.

Speaking at the weekend, he threatened workers would resist the planned concession.

He recalled when the defunct Nigeria Airways was liquidated, workers were left to die without pay off or pensions, which rose to over N72 billion.

According to him: “There is nothing wrong with it if it is done with honesty and purpose- driven.

“Unfortunately we do not believe, particularly with what we are seeing that Nigeria is ripe for concession and privatisation of public utilities.”

Abioye added all efforts in the past to concession airport facilities failed due to lack of objectivity or transparency.

He claimed the few that could be described as successful were skewed in favour of investors and against the interest of government which represent the public interest.

He wondered why government chose to concession the most lucrative airports, which are the mainstay of FAAN’s revenues.

According to him: “So why would it be Murtala Muhammed Airport, Kano airport and Port Harcourt airport that government wants to sell?

“What is the reason why the other 16 airports that are underutilised are not considered for this purpose?

“This is because my understanding is that PPP is very good to bring about quality service and so on and so forth.

“We are aware that people have been going round our airports making inspections and all that but unfortunately the government is taking us for granted.

“What do you want to concession? Is it the building or the facilities inside? What happens to the federal public servants that are working in those airports?”

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