Members of the Guild of Public Affairs Analysts, Enugu State have condemned plans by the Federal Government to concession the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for a period of 80 years, calling it an aberration in aviation concessioning.
Speaking on Media conclave of the popular radio show; Freedom Square Live, on Solid 100.9 FM, moderated bu Uchenna Cyril Anioke, Ph.D., the Guild advocated for maximum of 30 to 35 years of concession and called on the Governors of the South East and Ndi Igbo to stand against any attempts to mortgage a heritage of Igbo people to a few individuals for almost a century.
Members of the Guild, who were the analysts on Freedom Square Radio Programme, were in agreement on the need to concession the airport, since the government cannot take care of it, but prescribed a free, fair and transparent bidding process for the concessioning of the airport.
The chairman of GPAAN, Enugu Chapter, Dr. Ambrose Igboke, while acknowledging that airport concessioning is a global practice, to promote operational efficiency, the tenure of the contract should be reasonable.
He further stated: “concession is not a bad idea. But 80 years? That’s like gifting out a national asset. No amount of investment justifies that. It becomes an aberration when the terms of the concession are hidden, and stakeholders, like the labour unions, are left out. If the federal government can no longer maintain the airport, let it be transferred to Enugu State, not sold off for generations.”
Secretary of GPAAN, Enugu, Dr. Chikezie Obasi, in his own submission, emphasized that any of such concession must fully involve the people of Enugu and South East stakeholders, insisting that the land on which the airport stands belongs to the people who willingly gifted it for such federal infrastructural development.
“The airport stands on our land. Concession should not happen without the consent of the people. The concessionaire must be duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and technical experts from the South East have to be part of the process. We say no to 80 years; let it be 25 to 30 years maximum. In 80 years, ninety percent of those alive today won’t be there to witness the outcome”, he said.
Umeh Clinton, a journalist and Financial Secretary of the Guild, lamented the current state of the airport infrastructure, citing poor maintenance as a contributing factor to the present concession plans. He called on the Enugu State government to consider building a new state-owned airport to boost regional economic activity alongside its airline operations.
Emeka Odom, a member of GPAAN, decried secretive nature of the deal, stressing that concession decisions must be transparent and collectively owned by the South East people.
In his words; “The governors, Ohaneze Ndi Igbo, interest groups, and the people must resist this. We won’t be here in 80 years to tell this story. We must act now.”
The Guild and audience phone – in callers, advocated for the intervention of the Enugu State Governor; Dr. Peter Mbah, to use his good office to intervene in the concession of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport by seeking ways of drastically reducing the tenure of the concession of the airport to the global conventional practice of 25 – 30 years tenure and ensure full transparency, involvement of indigenous stakeholders, and the preservation of regional interests.
On the closure of the Enugu International Airport, members of the Guild commended the efforts of the Enugu State Governor; Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, on doing everything possible to ensure that the airport is reopened immediately.
