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•Says Nigeria Air suspended indefinitely
Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation and aerospace development, says the airport concession deal was being thoroughly reviewed by the federal government to ensure transparency and total alignment with international best practices.
He also said the botched Nigeria Air project remains closed as it was wrongly designed to impair rather than improve the Nigerian economy.
Keyamo disclosed these to journalists on Monday at a ministerial press briefing in Abuja, held to mark President Bola Tinubu’s one year in office.
He said his ministry is developing a master plan for major airports in the country.
The minister said the president has approved the review of the concession process of the major airports to make sure they operate at international standards.
“Bureaucracy cannot run public infrastructure. They have to be run like private businesses,” Keyamo said.
“The review of the concession process is to ensure it is more transparent to deliver world-class infrastructure.
“We will do full concession of the airports and run them as private businesses. The president has asked us to go for the best.”
Under Hadi Sirika, the ex-aviation minister, the federal government opened the bidding process for the concession of four major international airport terminals in the country on August 16, 2021.
The airports include Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Murtala Muhammed Internatıonal Airport, Lagos; Malam Amınu Kano Internatıonal Airport, Kano; and Port Harcourt Internatıonal Airport.
The federal government had said the concession would be for a period between 20-30 years.
In October 2022, the government announced the preferred and reserve bidders for the concession of airports.
However, Keyamo, weeks after he was appointed a minister, suspended the airports concession plans and the Nigeria Air project on August 31, 2023.
The concessioning of the airports and the national carrier were two major projects under the aviation roadmap implemented by the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
The minister said the projects would be put on hold until further notice.
On Nigeria Air, Keyamo said the project, unveiled three days before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2023, was a total fraud.
“It remains suspended. It was never Air Nigeria. It was not Air Nigeria. That’s the truth. It was only painted Air Nigeria. It was Ethiopian Airlines trying to flag our flag,” he said.
“If it is so, why not allow our local people to fly our flag. Why bring a foreigner to fly our flag? So nobody should dispute that it was Air Nigeria”, he explained.
