Chairman of Bi-Courtney Group and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Wale Babalakin, has described the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) as a primitive regulator that also acts as an operator.
Babalakin, spoke at the federal house of representatives committee on Aviation in Abuja, on ‘The Need to Rescue the Airline Industry From Imminent Collapse.’
According to him, FAAN had severally violated and desecrated the principles of the rule of law, adding that the regulator failed to comply with court judgments on his company’s “transparent” concession of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2).
Speaking on the third day of the four-day hearing, Babalakin dismissed comments attributed to Hadi Sirika, minister of state for aviation, that the concession was not transparent.
“That statement is totally false and anybody making such is not dealing with facts. The minister of aviation passed adverse statements when he appeared (at this hearing). We want to state that that is his personal opinion,” he said.
He said the concession was originally granted to Sanderton Ventures Ltd (SVL) and later taken over by Bi-Courtney, as reserved bidders after SVL’s failure to deliver.
Babalakin accused FAAN of ineptitude in virtually all of its dealings regarding the concession, saying: “If FAAN is not embarrassed, we feel totally disgraced as Nigerians.”
He stated that FAAN pays N50m per month as damages to Sanderton, noting that this was due to the agency’s failure to defend itself.
He faulted FAAN’s design of MMA2, saying “as it is today, we are only utilising 30 percent of MMA2; 70 percent is idle”.
He lamented that elements of the design had so far not been approved, or blocked, including hotel and conferencing facilities, a mono rail, fuel hydrant and a power plant.
He said this had hindered the Nigerian aviation industry from fulfilling its potential.
“FAAN has shown complete disregard to constituted authority and the laws of Nigeria,” Babalakin said, noting that the concession had been subject to six appeals by various interests, all won by Bi-Courtney.
“It is incongruous, it is primitive to have an operator as a regulator. FAAN is a regulator competing with the concessionaire”, he added.
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