The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said that the process for the concession of Nigeria’s four major international airports will be completed in the second quarter of the year 2022.
The minister also announced that the requests for proposal on the establishment of a national carrier would be out on Monday (today).
Sirika disclosed this while playing host to the Executive Committee members of the Abuja Transport and Aviation Correspondents Association in his office in Abuja.
The Government, Sirika said has been making efforts to concession Nigeria’s major international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.
According to him, “The transaction advisers for the concession have finished the Outline Business Case and had got the Request for Qualification. We’ve pre-qualified the people and they’ve been issued Request for Proposal.
“They’ve turned the proposals in and we are analysing them to announce the successful bidders and this will be soon. Our timetable is for the first quarter of this year.”
He further said: “Well, I can see that it is still happening, let’s be very ambitious, but certainly it will end in second quarter and all the (identified) airports will be concessioned. Many airports have been established since the current administration took over government in 2015.”
Continuing, he disclosed: “there are more airports today than when we came in 2015. There’s Anambra and Lafia airports; there is Ekiti airport, going on; Makurdi airport, going on; Yobe airport, Ebonyi airport and many other airports.
“We have about 12 new airports added since we came and this is growth. And we have the same in other aspects of the sectors, as more runways are being added, more capacities for the airports are being delivered.”
Sirika said the government was diligently implementing the key components of the aviation sector roadmap, adding that, “we are very sure that before the end of the term of Mr President, these things will be achieved and realised.”
The minister also revealed plans to begin the issuing of requests for proposal to intending investors for the establishment of the national carrier on March 8, 2022.
