Since the revocation of the concession agreement for four of the nation’s airports, the parties have been at each other’s throat. Yakubu Dati examines the issues involved
When the concession agreement was signed a few years ago, they were the best of business associates. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and M aevis Limited signed the concession agreement on the firms maintenance of four of the nation’s airports without a fuss in 2007. Under the agreement. Maevis was to provide an integrated automated airport operations management scheme through the Common User Service System and Flight Information Display System for revenue management and other administrative purposes. The revocation of the contract on grounds that Maevis did not perform have strained their relationship. The issues has been obfuscated by extraneous factors because of the deliberate spins implored by one of the parties.
The effort to encumber the issue with other loads not inherently contained in the matter, shows to the discerning that it is only a zigzag method to pull the wool over the eyes of the not so circumspect. FAAN Managing Director George Uriese, who has consistently insisted that the right thing be done, has drawn the ire of Maevis.
But no matter the labyrinthine contours prefixed to the issue, the fact remains that there was a breach in the agreement which no party in the fray has denied and which has yet to be embedded by the other issues of illogic introduced to divert attention from the real issues.
In 2007, FAAN, in order to increase its earnings while doing away with bureaucracies and other bottlenecks associated with the public service, as well as foster a healthy partnership with the private sector, entered into an agreement with Maevis to manage its revenue and facilities at four airports in the country.
The major selling point of the deal was its proactiveness which is seen as an answer to the slow and inefficient system hitherto used.
It is no secret that Maevis agreed to the contract terms and was to be paid certain percentages from the amount it generated.
in addition, the firm was to implement the infrastructural aspect of the agreement on the four airports contained in the N4 billion contract.
The concession is of two basic components which are to run concurrently in terms of implementation and assessment.
But a quick check on the workings of the agreement shows not only a lack of faith in its implementation but also a possible fraud.
In the first instance, Maevis instead of working by the terms of the agreement, unilaterally increased the contract amount from N4 billion to N7 billion without variation.
This, even if stripped of any suspicion would come as an innovation in contractual agreements usually entered into by two or more parties, by allowing one of the parties to adjust the terms of agreement without recourse to the other parties.
Moreover, the contract was awarded as part of measures to entrench accountability and promote private sector participation to which FAAN should as the awarding party, under normal circumstances remain the benefactor that should if not dictate the pace of the contract, but at least be in the picture in case of any alteration to the terms of the initial agreement.
As if that is not enough, the initial agreement to have all monies accruing from the concession to be kept in a common account so as to determine the amount to be paid as commission to Maevis was also jettisoned in favour of Maevis which immediately began to collect revenues and take custody of the monies generated by depositing it in an account exclusive to it.
All of a sudden, the beneficiary of the commission became the sole determinant of what should come to it by keeping the other party in the dark as to what accrues from what should have been a collaborative effort.
Out of the initial four airports to benefit from the infrastructural component of the agreement, only two had a semblance of the touch of the project while the other two were left untouched for five years as nothing was done to them.
Yet, both aspects of the contract are to run simultaneously providing an even platform for implementation and evaluation.
When the Minister for Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, came in and reviewed the contract, it was discovered that the government is being bled through a laceration it thought was benign and she revoked the agreement before more harm is done.
But afraid to present the real issues to the public because of the glaring inadequacies, other issues such as what FAAN has done with the little remitted by the firm have been thrown up.
Moreover, a kind of forum shopping is going on. While a certain agency of government is looking into the issue, another one would be approached to do the same ostensibly to get a favourable report, all in order to confuse matters.
Maevis has perfected its antics of dragging issues and have in the process survived four Ministers of Aviation. Its strategy is to enmesh the issues in protracted legal battles until the minister is either "settled ", removed or overwhelmed. But then emerged a new girl on the block who suffers no fools: Princess Oduah
She has sent clear signals that it’s business unusual. Her resilient campaign to get foreign airlines to redress the discriminatory airfare disparity has set her on collision course with the British government. Yet she trudges on unperturbed, insisting that the right thing be done! The on-going remodelling of over a dozen airports, across the country has distinguished her as a woman with a mission.
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