Workers Oppose Govt's Plan to Concession 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 the plan by the federal government to concession four major airports in the country located in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.

This was disclosed to THISDAY at the weekend by the Assistant General Secretary of NUATE, Mr. Olayinka Abioye, who accused government of not putting the interest of the workers into consideration. He vowed that the workers would resist the plan to concession the airports, recalling that when the defunct Nigeria Airways was liquidated, the workers were left to die without their pay off or pensions, which rose to over N72 billion.

The federal government said it could no longer fund the development of airport facilities due to its lean resources. The government is therefore inviting the private sector to invest in the growth of the facilities through Public, Private Partnership (PPP) and has in its initial plan the concession of the first major airports in the country.

Reacting to this plan Abioye said: "What we need to recognise first of all is the fact that government particularly in the last 10 years, has been shifting its core responsibilities and this may be due to globalisation and neo-liberalism and it wanted to engage in what is called Public, Private Partnership. There is nothing wrong with that if it is done with honesty and it is also purpose driven. Unfortunately we do not believe, particularly with what we are seeing that Nigeria is ripe for concession and privatisation of public utilities.