Experts blame FAAN for termination of concession agreement

By Shola Adekola Tribune.com.ng

As the recent termination of the contractual agreement between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and its concessionaire, Maevis, continues to raise dust, some stakeholders in the aviation industry have faulted the manner of the termination warning that the development  will damage the reputation of Nigeria in the international investors’ forum.
Speaking in line with this, a former national president of the National Cabin Crew Association (NACCA), Olumide Ohunayo, called on FAAN and Maevis to seek re-negotiation rather than cancellation, saying that the cancellation option usually leads to prolonged litigation, freezing of bank accounts and assets as witnessed in the past.
Ohunayo, while going down memory lane, cited 1993 when “ NAHCO, FAAN and Spring Fountain, the purveyor of MAEVIS, were to jointly start a domestic handling company, but after making necessary financial contributions, the deal fell flat and refunds were demanded in a typical Nigerian ding-dong movement between the parties.
Ohunayo, who agreed that the MAEVIS/FAAN case was already in court, reminded that the equipment NAHCO used before they were forced to move out for the MAEVIS deal are still lying somewhere in the same airport that MAEVIS equipment are lying in right now.
Ohunayo, however, said that concession was the way forward but cautioned that it must be accompanied by transparent, robust and independent economic regulations supported by effective industry consultations.
Also speaking, the Secretary of the Nigerian Aviation Professionals Association (NAPA), Comrade Abdulrazak Saidu, believed the termination of the contract by the government would not do the industry any good, rather, he said it would send wrong signal to other private investors who had been called upon by the government severally to invest not just in the industry, but in the country.
He alleged that for several years, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the sector could not be accounted for by the personnel in the agency, stressing that the coming of PPP had reduced such loopholes, which he said some were not comfortable with.
“Why is it that it is only in FAAN that we always hear of unfavourable contractual agreement? I am going to write, we have been writing. We wrote to the government over how the IGR in the industry has been mismanaged and urged them to focus on IGR and they are focusing on IGR now. If you look at the agency, there are many dirty things that are happening over there. Not only in FAAN, if there is any other agency that we found out that they are mismanaging the IGR, we will focus. We are civil societies in the industry,” he said.