THE protracted tussle between the federal government and concessionaire, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Ltd (BASL) is an untidy example of how officials’ poor attitude to government work clogs our developmental efforts.

The domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, was like a glorified chicken shed before it got burnt in 2000. The President Olusegun Obasanjo regime conceded it to BASL on the “build, operate and transfer” model. Based on the April 2003 agreement it was initially billed to last for twelve years. But on February 2, 2007, it was suddenly extended to last for 36 years.

Indeed, BASL was able to set up a modern, internationally-compliant airport terminal; the first of its type in Nigeria, complete with automated processes and a parking lot. It cost billions of naira borrowed from local banks.

A controversy, however, arose as to whether the 36 years was not too long for a concession of this type. Aviation stakeholders, such as Arik Air, the National Union of Air Transport Services Employees (NUATE), and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) challenged Bi-Courtney’s legal quest to assert its right to run the concession for the 36 years. Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have already upheld Bi-Courtney’s rights.

As a model of concession of public works to private sectors our interest is to ensure that the right balance is struck between the interest of the general public and that of concessionaires. The period of 36 years is obviously too long. But since the government went into the arrangement with its eyes open it must respect its terms. The government of this country has become notorious for voluntarily signing agreements and backing out unilaterally, thus creating undue friction.

However, we advocate for a probe of the variation of length of the concession to establish whether public officials slept on their duties or compromised their integrity. If such a case is established the officials should be sanctioned to ensure public servants sit up to their duties in future.

Since government is now firmly moving in the direction of concession for rapid development, even to the point of setting up the General Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) we must ensure we respect the terms of all agreements to encourage more private investors to participate.

Bi-Courtney must also be made to improve its poor maintenance profile of MMA2 where most of the automated processes regularly break down with little effort to attend to them. While we support the respect for agreements and court verdicts we insist that Bi-Courtney must be held to account in terms of maintenance and adjustments in the cost of its services.