None of FAAN’s Workers Will Be Laid Off after Concession, Minister Assures

Chinedu Eze

The federal government has assured that none of the over 8,000 workers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) would lose their jobs if the major airports in the country are concessioned under a Public, Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

Government has also said it will use between June and August this year to finalise the programme of airport concession in the country even as labour continues to kick against the project
The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who revealed this in Lagos, at the end of the Airport Business Summit and Expo recently, assured that there would be no job loss.

He stressed that the concession would create opportunity to engage more hands into the system
Sirika told industry stakeholders that there was no need to sell the people’s asset but to concession them in a way that they would be operated to generate more revenue for the country, modernise the airports and create more jobs.

“We will not sell the assets that belong to 200 million people and the future generation of this country. We are not going to sell because those that were sold were lost, so we in government believe that we should hold those assets for the Nigerian people in trust.

“We must make those assets better to provide the service that is needed. So, we said rather than sell out rightly, we will concession. In other words, we would give it up to someone who would operate them and make them better.
“We will then get more money, the people will enjoy better service, the industry grows and after certain time, the airports will come back to us,” he said.

He said the proposal would be presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in February 2022
The minister also said all the agreements on concession was contained in the outlined proposal saying that it was in the interest of the people.

Sirika explained that the proposal which commenced in 2015, would be advertised this month for bidders to show interest after which qualified companies would be invited for profiling and review , adding that everything covering the process would close in August
He explained that evaluated companies would be asked to present a proposal for engagement
Sirika assured labour of dialogue to ensure that every issue concerning concession was addressed, insisting that no single worker would be laid off

He assured that all on going concessions would be allowed to finish their tenure before their agreements were reviewed.
On the notorious traffic gridlock between the domestic and international terminals of the Lagos airport, Sirika said arrangement was on between the Lagos state government and the Ministry of Aviation to construct light rail from the Ikeja terminal through the local airport terminals to the international airport.