The House of Representatives, Committee on Aviation has ordered the suspension of the proposed concessioning of four airports by the Ministry of Aviation.
The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Nnolim Nnaji (PDP-Enugu), made the resolution on behalf of his panel, on Tuesday.
Before its resolution, members of the Committee, took turns, to lambaste the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, for failing the 4th time, to honour the summons of the House Committee.
“This is about the fourth time, we are fixing this meeting. The Committee, is not happy that we will fix a meeting and the Minister will not be available.
“You may recall that in September or there about, this committee, had interactions with the Representatives of the labour unions on this subject matter. During the meeting which was sequel to our earlier Intervention over the unions’ strike action against the concession, a lot of concerns were raised by the representatives of the labour unions regarding the Airports’ concession.
“Among the concerns were the lack of transparency in the exercise, labour issues, the Chinese loans, the legal issues that may arise from the existing concessions and the lack of proper valuation of the present status of the affected airports, among others.
“Based on the outcome of the meeting the Labour Unions, the committee invited the Minister of Aviation and the Heads of Agencies under him, to discuss the issue of Airports’ Concession. Several dates were fixed for the meeting, but for one reason or the other, they failed to attend.
“The Committee had also received several letters from stakeholders both in favour and against the Airports’ Concession . In view of this, the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, hereby requests that the concession of the four Airports, should be put on hold, pending the resolution of the contentious issues raised by the unions and other stakeholders, to avoid industrial actions that may further cripple the already distressed industry”, he stated.
The Committee added that ” We are hopeful that at the end of the day, our intervention will provide the opportunity for all the parties to reach a common ground, that will move the aviation industry forward”.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. H. Musa, who represented the Minster at the meeting, pleaded for more time, to allow Sirika appear before the Committee.
He stressed that the Ministry will not deliberately ignore summons from the Committee.
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