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Bi-Courtney advises minister on privatisation

By on December 6, 2014

The management of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited has called on the Federal Government to allow the private sector to participate more in the aviation industry.

This, the company said, would boost activities in the Nigerian aviation industry, thus attracting increased investment in the sector.

The company, in a statement on Thursday, said that major countries of the world had embraced the privatisation system, as they had either privatised or concessioned their airports to private operators.

According to the management, it is important for the government to toe this path if the airports in the country are to measure up to the standards of other major airports around the world.

Speaking against the backdrop of the poor rating given to Nigerian airports by Skytrax recently, the firm commended the minister for his refusal to mislead the country on the true state of the nation’s aviation industry and the positive steps he had taken to arrest the decay in the sector.

Citing the example of MMA2 as a private sector response to infrastructure decay and deficit in Nigeria, the management of Bi-Courtney commended the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka, for positively appraising the airport.

The MMA2 terminal, on concession to Bi-Courtney on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis, was inaugurated in 2007 to facilitate the trips of domestic air passengers leaving or arriving Lagos.

Bi-Courtney which pledged to continue to make the nation proud, said, “Across the world, airports are being privatised outright, or given out as concessions to private operators. If Britain can concession Gatwick Airport terminal to a Nigerian, Adebayo Ogunlesi, what more do we have to say? What the industry needs desperately is a thorough liberalisation and overhaul of the regulatory agencies to make them more efficient and more professional so as to be able to stamp out corruption.

“The reforms at the seaports, though incomplete, provide a precedent, just as the success of the telecommunications sector liberalisation programme has delivered 110 million telephone lines, created hundreds of thousands of jobs and drawn in millions of dollars in foreign direct investment in 12 years. This demonstrates the enormous power that can be unleashed by leaving critical sectors to private capital.”

Bi-Courtney noted that it had spent over N2bn in upgrading its facilities in 2014, adding, “The MMA2 with about 4.5 million/annum passenger capacity and a land area of 20, 000m2, is the first BOT project in the area of infrastructure development in Nigeria that has been completed successfully by a Nigerian company.

“The pre-eminence of MMA2, in the nation’s aviation industry, is hinged on its distinct features with unparalleled state-of-the-art facilities including a terminal building, a multi-storey car park, hotel, conference centre, and an apron.”

 

[Punch]