The Federal Government has concessioned the Port Harcourt International Airport for 30 years, months after the concession of Enugu International Airport, successfully bringing two main airports below personal administration.
This is simply as the federal government can be contemplating comparable preparations for Benin and Yola airports with a purpose to cut back the price of operating the amenities.
It can be recalled that the federal authorities earlier in June 2026 signed off the Akanu Ibiam International airport for concession below a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) association.
Aero Alliance Limited was named because the concessionaire for Enugu.
It has now moved to Port Harcourt Airport which is among the 4 main worldwide airports together with Lagos, Abuja, Kano.
With the concession, the airport would now be run henceforth by Port Harcourt Airport Company Limited below a registered firm R28 Holdings Limited, a personal agency included in April 2021.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, throughout the signing of the concession settlement with Port Harcourt Airport Company Limited
mentioned the concession would enhance the airport’s operational effectivity and income era, whereas permitting personal buyers to develop its industrial potential.
He mentioned the federal government had been utilizing income from worthwhile airports to subsidise others working at a loss, with personnel prices, diesel and different operational bills placing stress on public funds.
“Some of our airports are being run at a loss. We make so much money from some of our primary airports, and most of those profits are ploughed into running other airports,” he mentioned.
The minister mentioned the federal government lacked the sources to develop the non-aeronautical parts of some airports, making personal funding obligatory.
He mentioned the settlement had acquired the approval of President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Executive Council, including that earlier makes an attempt to concession airports had been stalled by labour resistance and court docket instances.
According to him, the federal government secured the help of aviation unions by negotiations earlier than signing the settlement.
Keyamo mentioned the concessionaire would endure efficiency critiques each 5 years and will lose the airport if it failed to satisfy the phrases of the settlement.
He assured employees that the concession wouldn’t result in job losses or a discount of their situations of service, saying Tinubu had directed that their welfare be protected.
“President Bola Tinubu was very concerned about that, that no worker should lose his job. The conditions of service should remain the same,” he mentioned.
The minister disclosed that the federal government had acquired proposals from buyers inquisitive about creating Benin and Yola airports, which had been into account.
He mentioned personal operators may appeal to capital, make industrial selections quicker and introduce companies able to growing airport income.
Keyamo mentioned airports may generate earnings from buying malls, supermarkets, convention centres and different industrial amenities past passenger and aircraft-related costs.
He mentioned Port Harcourt’s location across the Gulf of Guinea may help its growth right into a regional aviation hub.
Speaking on behalf of the concessionaire, Group Executive of R28 Holdings, Eyo Asuquo, mentioned the corporate would introduce worldwide requirements and enhance amenities on the airport.
Asuquo mentioned the concession course of concerned in depth engagements inside and outdoors Nigeria to display the buyers’ capability to execute the mission.
He mentioned the corporate wouldn’t retrench present employees, including that airport growth would create extra jobs.
Asuquo mentioned the buyers deliberate to develop the airport into an airport metropolis and place Port Harcourt as a serious hub for the Gulf of Guinea.
Union, analyst react
Speaking with Daily Trust, the Deputy General Secretary of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN), Comrade Olayinka Abioye mentioned the union supported the concession, saying all labour-related points have been addressed.
Our correspondent experiences that the concession of the airports had been stalled previously attributable to resistance from trade unions who feared privatising the airports may result in job losses.
However, Abioye mentioned no member of employees would lose their jobs, insisting they had been carried alongside.
An aviation trade analyst, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, rtd, mentioned the worldwide airport ought to have been concessioned alongside at the very least 4 home airports.
“Why Port Harcourt alone and not all others, Lagos, Abuja, Kano, etc??? Each international airport with at least four domestic airports has been my recommendation in my Book, Troubled Skyline,” he mentioned.
According to him, the concession ought to be restricted to the non-aeronautical companies particularly the Passengers Terminal Buildings, the Carparks and Tollgates however not the Aeronautical Safety and Security Services.
“That is the only way to develop and grow in Aviation Services with contemporaries in ICAO,” he added.
“There is a deliberate slow running on the concession since the 2000 Act on Privatisation, Commercialisation and Concession that rolled out MM2, Seaport/NPA Ports, Nitel, etc. What are the political reasons for the delay from one administration to another? It can only be to the benefits of the political office holders and not to the benefits of Nigerian citizens. Why the delay of Enugu, Lagos, Abuja, Kano, etc.”
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