N’Assembly Plans to Resolve MMA2 Concession

• N’Assembly Plans to Resolve MMA2 Concession

The National Assembly has revealed plans to resolve the issues surrounding the concession of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two, Lagos by the Federal Government to Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited.

A joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Aviation made the promise when they visited the MMA2 during a tour of the tree terminals of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, as part of their oversight functions, on Friday.

The committee said BASL should submit all the document agreements, which gave it 12 years to manage the MMA2, which had increased to 36 years.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Adamu Aliero and his House of Representatives counterpart, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said that the National Assembly was determined to resolve all the issues between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and BASL over the MMA2 concession.

The committees demanded and got copies of the concession agreement and promised to study them.

Aliero said NASS would settle the controversy between Bi-Courtney and FAAN.

He said, “We are going to do our very best to broker peace. I think that is exactly what the Joint Committee of the National Assembly is up to. To make sure that justice is done, we are poised to solve the lingering crisis for the benefit of Nigeria, Bi-Courtney and other stakeholders involved in the project.

“Of course, we have requested for all the necessary documents and we are aware of the court judgement. So, we are going to explore whatever means available to bring a lasting solution to the issue.”

Onyejeocha also said the visit, which started from the international airport, would take the committee through all airports across the country.

She added, “So, it is of immense importance that we visit the MMA2 today. And on the issue on the ground, we have requested all necessary documents, which we believe will help us to get to the root of the matter. With the collaboration of everyone, we will try our best to resolve the logjam between Bi-Courtney and FAAN.

“The truth of the matter is that Nigeria has to move on. And so, we are going to do everything humanly possible to see that we do what is good for Nigeria and will work effectively to ensure that there is unity and progress of the country. And having said that, we have requested that they give us the first agreement and the second agreement and without prejudice to anyone, we will keep our fingers crossed until the end.”

A director and Group Consultant, the Resort Group, a parent company of BASL, Prof. Olugbenga Ogunmoyela, said the refusal of FAAN to obey the concession agreement it willingly entered into with the MMA2 was not good for the image of the country.

He said BASL had a development plan that would have enabled it to have four additional fingers and other facilities at the terminal, adding that this was truncated by FAAN.

He lamented that all the resources invested by BASL for regional flight operations to start in the terminal had gone down the drain after FAAN and other government agencies truncated the approval obtained from the Federal Government by the company for the operations.