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The airport workers’ unions are
angry with the concessioning of the Lagos Airport, saying government
has replaced a public monopoly with a private monopoly.

Gideon Ogbuji, general secretary,
National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), argued that FAAN is
losing enormous revenue to concessionaires operating in the airports,
“We have on different occasions carried out peaceful protests against
concessioning of not just that terminal (GAT), but of other revenue
yielding arms of the airport, and this is because most of the
concessionaires are not keeping to agreements,” he said, adding that he
terms of the agreements are not being adhered to by the concessionaires

“FAAN has lost huge sums, some of
which cannot be accounted for because of the inability of these
concessionaires to remit as at when due, and that is why we are
determined not to allow the error of handing over GAT to Bi-Courtney,”
he said.

Jerome Marinho, chief operating
officer of Bi-Courtney, said the unions were not party to the
concession agreement. “Bi-Courtney has no relationship with the unions.
We deal with the unions on the legal front. The issue with the unions
has to do with GAT transactions. They came in and aired their views.
The agreement was signed by the Attorney-general, minister of aviation,
the managing director of FAAN, and under the supervision of the Bureau
of Public Enterprise. So we have no direct relationship with the
unions.”

According to Mr. Ogbuji, the House
of Representatives Committee on Aviation asked the unions to resolve
their differences with the MMA2 operators instead of disrupting
activities at the airports, stressing that up till now, both parties
have not being able to agree.

“We (unions and Bi-Courtney) were
asked by the House Committee to discuss and come up with a resolution,
but so far no positive agreement has been reached. But the case is
still pending in court and we hope that we will reach agreement,
otherwise the situation remains the same; which is, GAT (general
aviation terminal) was not, and is not, in the concession agreement
between FAAN and Bi-Courtney,” he said.

Aturu Samuel, second national
president for the union, said the concessioning of the airports will
“definitely lead to serious job cuts among FAAN staff. They have taken
MMA2, and if they succeed in concessioning MMA Lagos, Kano, Port
Harcourt, Abuja, and Calabar from us, then FAAN will no longer exist,
and it is already collapsing if we allow them to do so,” he warned.

Mr. Aturu, however, disclosed that
workers are not against investors who wish to invest in the sector, but
maintained that the government should make “judicious use” of funds
meant for the industry. “We are not averse in foreign investors coming
to invest in Nigeria, but the government should abide by the rules
regulating the aviation industry globally,” he said, adding “Where is
the N19.5 billion naira aviation intervention fund?”