The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria would be required to settle a $1bn loan if the Federal Government continues with its concession policy, the unions of airport workers said on Tuesday.
The union which includes the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals and the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, FAAN branch said the economics of the concession did not add up at all.
While addressing journalists in a press conference on Tuesday in Lagos, union executives, which included representatives from NUATE, ATSSSAN, ANAP and NUP-FAAN disclosed that the policy to be adopted by the Federal Government would be unfavourable to them.
The General-Secretary for NUATE, Ocheme Aba, who spoke on behalf of the union said, “While the sharing ratio is proposed to be 60:40 in favour of the concessionaire, the disadvantaged FAAN is made to bear the repayment of the $1bn loan utilised to build some terminals, continue to pay emoluments of its staff pensioners, return 25 per cent of its Internally Generated Revenue to the government under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, and maintain the remaining 18 airports in Nigeria.”
According to the union, there is no possibility of FAAN meeting even a quarter of the obligations.
Aba noted that the basis of granting the concessionaire the lion share of 60 per cent of the profit remained dense.
He said the model of concession by the government could be summarised as Take, Operate and Transfer and translated to reaping without sowing.
