A group, Aviation Round
Table (ART), has thrown  its weight behind the privatisation of some airport terminals being considered by the Federal Government.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, had during a recent visit to Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, given indication that the government was exploring the option of privatising the terminals.
President, ART, Mr Gbenga Olowo, told newsmen in Lagos that the group was in full support of privatising the terminals and other airport facilities.
He said this would enable the facilities to conform to global standard of the industry.
“We expect prompt implementation of government pronunciation on airport terminal buildings,” Olowo said.
According to him, acute infrastructure deficit has hampered the growth of the aviation sector for so long.
He said, “this government has come to terms with that reality, coupled with the fact that many social needs are competing for the limited funds.”
The ART president said policy inconsistency was the main problem with past experiments, urging the present government to avoid such pitfalls.
The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), however, expressed its reservations on privatisation of the facilities.
NUATE said it was against any attempt to privatise the Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano Airport Terminals.
The NUATE’s Assistant General Secretary, Mr Olayinka Abioye, told The Tide that aviation unions would resist the privatisation of the terminals of the four key airports.
Abioye said:”I have heard of recent where the honourable minister of transport was quoted as saying that four airports are going to be privatised.
“If the Federal Government decides to privatise the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, who are they selling it to?
“We will stop this government from going ahead to privatise Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja Airports because those are not the airports we have advised them to privatise.
“They should go to Ondo State; we have Akure Airport, they should go to Oyo State; we have the Ibadan Airport. They should go to Kwara State, we have Ilorin Airport.”
He urged the government to divert its attention to these under-utilised airports and get them privatised.
Abioye said that privatisation of airport facilities should be done in a way that would be beneficial to government and people of Nigeria.
“The context of the privitisation we have seen in the past is that the Federal Government is the loser at the end of the day.
“The agreements, processes and the procedures leading to such privatisation have been skewed in favour of the individuals who own such enterprises.
“And at the end of the day, the Nigerian workers lose and the Federal Government loses,” he said.