An estate surveyor and valuer, Pedro Obiene has enjoined the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) to ensure proper valuation of properties involved in a bid to concession the Lagos and Abuja airports.
Obiene, a Port Harcourt-based private practitioner made the call in a chat with The Tide in his office in Port Harcourt,last Monday.
He noted that ensuring accurate valuation of the airports properties would help eliminate corruption and misrepresentations associated with previous concessions.
According to him, “the Federal Government should carry out a detailed a valuation of the facilities of the two airports before concessioning them into private hands, stressing that the public needs to know the worth of what the Federal Government is giving to the private sector and the benefit to the economy of the nation to prevent occurrences of the past”.
He noted however that while concessioning the airports would enhance the business environment in Nigeria and ensure efficiency, it could also lend to high costs as the concessionaires would seek  ultimately to increase their profit margin.
This, he observed could throw airport users into hardship as well as throw some of the staff in the aviation sector back into the labour market.
He explained: “look at the Eleme Petrochemicals that was privatised now making profit. That venture is now making trillions where it could not make millions before under government management.
I say again that they should ensure accurate valuation so as not to undervalue the airports assets and liabilities before the conessioning to private hands”.

Tonye Nria-Dappa