President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Joseph Ajaero has said the body is fully in support of the national carrier project, while condemning federal government's plan to concession the four major airports in the country.
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The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had at various fora, explained that government's plan to concession the airports was to inject private sector funding to develop state-of-the-art airport facilities that can meet international standards, so that Nigeria, which has the highest flight traffic in West Africa could be sun-regional hub.
He said government also insisted on establishing a national carrier in order to have an airline that could be effectively competitive and could harness the benefits of the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) through reciprocity by operating to such destinations like London, New York, Paris, Dubai and other destinations whose airlines also operate to Nigeria.
But NLC has insisted it would support the national carrier project and that it is against airport concession. While Nigerian airlines could be alternatives to a national carrier, government has reiterated that it does not have funds to upgrade and modernise the international airports, insisting it wants to concession the terminal facilities at airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano and that work is already at advanced stage in the two projects.
However, speaking during a visit to one of the aviation unions, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), in Lagos, Wednesday, Ajaero explained that Nigeria needed a national carrier because the country cannot continue to depend on foreign airlines and stressed that the country establishing a national carrier was long overdue, but insisted that due process must be followed in establishing one.
He said the country cannot be supporting foreign airlines to rip off the country to the detriment of its local airlines. "We would demand as a matter of right, a national carrier. Nigeria must have a national carrier and we can't be depending on foreign carriers," Ajaero said.
He assured the union not to fret over the proposed concession of the four major international airports in the country and the demolition of the office buildings of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and others in Lagos to pave way for the airport city project called Aerotropolis, insisting that the idea is a joke of the century and will be dead on arrival.
"I don't think any human can concession here without paying entitlement. Anybody that takes over here as a concessionaire is spending his money for nothing. We have passed through privatization and so we know how it works and we know the dangers, so they are joking. ■