CONSTANTLY living in
denial, Nigeria’s aviation authorities have stridently debunked a new report
that ranked the country’s leading airports as being among the worst in Africa.
In its 2015 survey, Guide to Sleeping in Airports, a Canadian organisation, rated
the airports in Port Harcourt, Abuja and Lagos as the first, seventh and 10th
worst respectively in Africa. Considering that the survey is a continental
initiative, the rebuttals are self-defeatist and meretricious.
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| Lagos International Airport |
The Port Harcourt
International Airport in Rivers State has the dubious distinction of also being
rated the worst in the world. It is not only about sleeping there, but about
corruption, attitude of members of staff, comfort and other indices. Instead of
vilifying the report, the Ministry of Aviation should scrutinise it and make
fundamental changes where necessary. The weak defence of the Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria that the Port Harcourt airport is not the dirtiest because
it is undergoing renovation is half of the story. Nigerians who use our
airports attest to their poor state.
The assessment is a
confirmation of the troubles plaguing the aviation sector in Nigeria. Under
Stella Oduah as Aviation Minister, the past administration had controversially
taken a $500 million loan in 2013 from the China EXIM Bank to “build four new
international terminals and 11 cargo terminals.” Two years after, the airports
are not better off. The projects centred mainly on re-modelling. At best, this
was superficial, not fundamental enough to transform their outlook and
operations. At plenary on Wednesday, concerned House of Representatives members
alleged that the N400 billion appropriated for “the expansion, modernisation
and management of 17 domestic and five international airports” under the Goodluck
Jonathan government was mismanaged.
The survey, which was
conducted among 26,297 international travellers, said, “Top complaints
generally revolved around corruption, crowds, chaos, confusion and a total lack
of cleanliness – five Cs an airport definitely does not want to be associated
with. Amenities across the board are decidedly scarce if not entirely
non-existent….” With Nigerian airports, nothing could be truer. Acts of
impunity by government officials and the well-heeled constantly undermine operations.
The problems of Nigerian
airports are systemic, affected by the wobbly nature of a state bedevilled by
weak institutions, corruption and inefficient allocation of resources.
Splurging $500 million on expensive reconstruction has not shown results or
solved fundamental problems, which are legion. How do you fix an airport where
air conditioners don’t work, where security agents demand bribes and government
officials drive to the airside in violation of aviation rules? In question is
the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, with a dilapidated
expressway as the access road. On both sides of the road are petrol tankers and
unruly commercial motor drivers.
As expected, the survey
has squelched the claims of Nigeria being the “giant of Africa.” The report
lists South Africa’s Cape Town International Airport and Johannesburg Airport
as the first and second in Africa. In third place is Algeria’s Hauri
Boumediene, followed by Sir Seemoosagur in Mauritius and Kigali Airport,
Rwanda.
The Changi International
Airport, Singapore, has, in the past two decades, been rated as the best in the
world and the 2015 survey gives a hint. It said, “Perhaps, it’s the extreme
efficiency experienced when moving from the airplane to the city centre? Or
maybe it’s the luxurious layover indulgences, which include a fish spa, a
sauna, a butterfly garden, showers and a koi pond?”
When will our airports
attain an excellent culture of efficient operations and service delivery? In
the midst of the rot, and in our search for the appropriate solution, we need
to remember that many governments across the world have had a similar
experience with their airports. Many others are currently similarly encumbered.
So, what is the way out?
Aviation experts propose two radical solutions, especially for airports with a
minimum annual traffic of five million passengers. The first is full
privatisation, while the second is leasing (concession). The Conservative
government in Britain adopted the first model to a great success in 1987 by
privatising the British Airports Authority, raking in $2.3 billion from the
sale. In 2009, Heathrow and Stansted generated combined revenue of $4.27
billion.
The other workable model,
which the government could consider, is partial privatisation or leasing.
Examples here include the Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France; and
Frankfurt, Germany. While the airport in France generated $3.66 billion in
2009, the one in Germany receipted $2.74 billion. The Madrid Airport, Spain,
which is in the process of privatisation, raked in $4.16 billion the same year.
As a result of the move
to make airports viable, the Centre for Aviation, an Australian consultancy,
estimates that there are currently “450 airports globally with some form of
private-sector participation either in management or ownership.” Even Russia is
jettisoning the state-run model, going by its 2014-2016 privatisation plan,
which aims to cede operations at Moscow’s Sheremetyeva and Vnukovo airports
completely to the private sector. It is obvious that the $500m loan has not
been properly utilised and we welcome the House of Representatives’ decision to
probe the transaction and demand an accounting.
We have not managed our
airports efficiently as they remain a national embarrassment. And, the
resources to do so are no longer readily available. But privatisation is an
efficient way of managing infrastructure assets, and transparent privatisation
will liberate the government from appropriating money annually for airport
operations. A striking example of how privatisation can benefit the country is
the N63.5 billion being expended on the second runway under construction at the
Abuja airport. If our airports had been privately managed, the Federal Government
would have been able to save this fund and deploy it to other critical social
needs.
Copyright PUNCH.
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