Foreign firms jostle for management of Nigeria’s key airports

Nigeria is inching towards concession of four of its major airports as Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika disclosed that the responses to the request for pre-qualification by highly reputable international airport operators across the globe. This is indicative of the level of confidence that people have in the concession program. The Minister kept the names of the international firms jostling for the concession of the four aerodromes to himself because the processes have not been concluded. The four major airports slated for concession are the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos (pictured), the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, and the Port-Harcourt International Airport, Port-Harcourt. The country is moving rapidly towards concession as the Ministry of Aviation, in line with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (establishment, etc.) Act, 2005, and global best practice on Monday concluded the Request For Qualification (RFQ) which came to a close yesterday. The Request for Qualifications (RFQ) phase of the Nigeria Airport Concessions program (NACP) came to a close at 15:00HRS Local Time (Nigeria), October 25th, 2021. The deadline was announced on September 13, 2021, after close deliberations with ICRC and the transaction advisers, which allowed for a four-week extension in response to numerous requests from would-be bidders. Consequently, the Ministry of Aviation, the Transaction Advisers, and the Project Steering Committee have duly notified the ICRC of the milestone, and have stopped receiving submissions in response to the published RFQ according to the Minister. According to the Minister, "As we promised from the onset, we remain committed to ensuring the highest level of transparency and accountability till the end of the process. This is because we believe that the program is in the best interest of Nigerians as a people, and Nigeria as a nation”. On the next step of the program, Sirika who described the process as a ‘multistage program’ stated that the RFQ stage would be followed with a Request For Proposal (RFP) which shall be published and sent directly to qualified bidders for their response. Qualified bidders, he noted shall be announced once the bid opening committee has received, opened, and reviewed each submission based on the detailed Terms of reference (TOR) and RFQ guidelines contained in the RFQ bidders package (available on www.nacp.aviation.gov.ng). Private sector participants The Federal Government had made the concession of four of the big airports one of its cardinal projects as the government felt the best way to cease funding of airport projects was to hand it to the private sector while it concentrates its efforts on more critical infrastructure and other needs. Sirika had early this year explained that the decision to concession the airports was to ensure that the government was relieved of control of the aviation facilities. He also assured industry workers, especially those of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) that no worker would lose his or her job on account of the exercise. According to the minister, the concession is a step in the right decision as it will boost the nation’s earnings. $60 million windfalls from Lagos airport It has been estimated that the concession of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos would bring investment worth over N30 billion ($60) annually, which would be aided by the construction of a rail line to link both the domestic and international terminals. There was an urgent need for infrastructure investments and modernization as facilities require investments in runway maintenance, among others. There is relatively low asset utilization due to the limited opening hours of other smaller Nigerian airports; lack of terminal capacity as the airports fall short of gates, stands, and check-in desks. The airports have not been designed as international hubs but operate separate international and domestic terminals. Decrepit airport facilities The precarious state of the country’s airports, particularly the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos has encouraged many to support the government’s plans for concession. The ugly situation travelers face at the Lagos airport call to question how the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the managers of over 26 airports in the allowed facilities to degenerate almost beyond redemption. There is a need to modernize and upgrade infrastructure and equipment such as terminal buildings, control towers, conveyor belts, instrument landing systems, communication equipment, runway lighting, fire tenders, amongst others. The provision of infrastructure under the airport remodeling project was a sham; one that left many wondering why the over $500 million spent did not achieve what it was set to achieve. A few years after the airport remodeling project was conceived, facilities built then collapsed less than two years after they were hurriedly built. Airlines have continued to record incessant flight delays and cancellations as they are not able to meet demand. The situation is worsened by infrastructure gaps.

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