Lagos, 3 other major airports not designed for international operations – Minister

The federal government has said the four major airports in Nigeria located in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano were not designed as international facilities.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who made this known on Tuesday, August 10, at a stakeholders’ webinar during his presentation on Nigerian Airport Concession Strategy, added that the airports were operating below expectations.

The government it will be recalled recently put up the Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano airports for concession for a minimum of 20 years.

It stated that in a document on frequently asked questions about airport concession released by the Federal Ministry of Aviation as well as on the status of the road map/public private partnership projects concession of airports, the government named the airports/parts that were up for concession.

Speaking on the objectives of the concession project at the webinar on Tuesday, Sirika said: “The airports in Nigeria are currently operating in a suboptimal environment, most notably due to factors that will have to be improved as part of the public private partnership programme.”

The minister clarified that there was an urgent need for infrastructure investments and modernisation as all airports required investments in runway maintenance, navigation aids as well as terminal facilities.

In his words “There is relatively low asset utilisation due to the limited opening hours of other smaller Nigerian airports; lack of terminal capacity as the airports fall short of gates, stands and check-in desks.

“The airports have not been designed as international hubs but operate separate international and domestic terminals.”

Commenting on transaction advisers for the project, Sirika named them to include, Infrata, Dentons, Proserve, Ciena, and Templars, describing them as reputable firms that would advise the Federal Ministry of Aviation.

The minister stressed that the concessionaires would provide the investment required to upgrade the existing terminals, take over the new terminals and maintain them over a period of time to be determined based on financial assessment of each transaction.