Aviation Minister insists concession is not privatisation

Amidst dissenting voices over the planned con­cession of the nation’s airports, the Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika has kick-started the concession process with the inau­guration of two commit­tees; a Project Steering Committee, and a Proj­ect Delivery Committee.

Performing the inau­guration in his office, yesterday in Abuja, the Minister said the Proj­ect Steering Committee with him as Chairman, is to provide the general direction, and steer the course of Public Private Partnership project con­cessions in the Aviation Sector.

According to him, the misgivings some people have expressed con­cerning the exercise was borne out of misconcep­tion that Concession is synonymous with Priva­tization, and explained that the institutions being concessioned re­mained the properties of the federal government and that more jobs will be generated at the end of the day.

He reiterated that the driving force behind the federal government’s re­solve to concession the airports was the over-riding national interest in ensuring the estab­lishment and sustenance of world class standards in both infrastructural development and ser­vice delivery.