1 month ago
12 ARTICLE AD
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority
Aviation experts have urged the Federal Government to immediately halt the move to refund Nasarawa and Kebbi States N24bn for two unviable airports.
The experts advised the Federal Government not to pay the states, as that might serve as an avenue for other states to begin to defraud it.
They believed that a state government must have presented a viable work plan for an airport to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority before its construction.
In a separate chat with The PUNCH, the experts blamed the state governments and their agents for the failure of the airports, noting that they might have circumvented the process either at the visibility planning stage or during their alleged desperate quest to obtain approval from the NCAA.
The former Commandant of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, Group Captain John Ojikutu, queried why the Federal government was considering making such a refund, insisting that the states’ primary motive to primarily build an airport should be investigated.
“Why do they build an airport they can’t maintain in the first place? We have told them at different forums to either concession these airports or close them down. If that money is given to them, when will that fund be recouped?
“Why should they be given such money? We must begin to stand up for what is right in this country! Why should a learned person, a governor, build an airport without a sustainability plan? Why should you want to shift your failure as a state government to the Federal Government? That should not be done! All of them will now start going to build airports and then ask the Federal Government to come to take it over really!
“That is why I blame the NCAA because these airports would not have been built without the NCAA’s approval and submission of a plan for the airport. What happened to those plans? Did it fail? This could make one angry,” he noted.
Recall that on May 16, 2024, the President, in a letter addressed to the House Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, urged the legislative chamber to refund N15bn and N9bn to the Kebbi and Nasarawa State Governments, respectively, being the cost incurred in the construction of airports in their domains.
Kebbi State claimed it spent the money to construct the Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport in Birnin Kebbi, while the Nasarawa State Government spent N9bn for the construction of the Lafia Cargo Airport, Nasarawa.
The Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Olubunmi Kuku, recently said only three of 22 airports in the country were viable.
By that position, the FAAN boss categorised the Nasarawa and Kebbi airports as forming parts of the unviable airports.
Also, another industry expert, John Okpaku, criticised the states for making such a request in the first instance.
He advised that the airports should either be given to a concessionaire, sold or closed down.
“How can they be talking about getting money back? My position is they shouldn’t be refunded. Why should the government pay them? Is it by force? They should call for expert help.
“How many airlines go to Bauchi, Ebonyi and many others? These airports are not strategically viable. Let them just sell off these airports or give them to concessionaires,” he stated.
