By Lawani Mikairu

lagos—The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, said yesterday that the federal government has set machinery in motion to establish an Aviation university to manage the sector. He also said the government will not back down on the planned concession of the four major airports in the country, despite objection by some aviation unions.

Sirika disclosed this during an interactive session with Aviation correspondents in Lagos. He said the aviation university was needed to produce skilled management staff to effectively man the sector, noting that only trained pilots had been occupying managerial positions. He also said plans had reached advanced stage to actualize the establishment of the university.

The minister listed the four major airports that will be concessioned by the Federal Government to include the Murtala Muhammed Airport, MMA, Lagos, Nnamdi Azikwe Airport, NAA, Abuja, Port Harcourt Airport, PHA, and Mallam Aminu Kano Airport, MAKA, Kano.

He said the protest by aviation unions against the planned concession was done due to lack of information and the misconception that the airports would be privatised and sold to private individuals. He said:  “We must concession. No going back. I cannot think of any other way. We cannot grow with present state of our airports .The atmosphere within which these airports    is not ideal.

‘’Today, we have the capacity for 15 million passengers annually and we should  within five years  have between70 to 100 million passengers annually if the right things are put in place.” Sirika added that Nigeria was an important country for air transport, in view of its huge market.

“We think we are in the right direction and the decision we have taken to concession the four airports is the right step for the industry and for the country,” he said. On why the Federal Government must concession airports, the Minister cited Dubai Airports which, according to him, has shopping malls, spar and other super markets. “But in Nigeria, what passengers see are cigarette and liquor shops. The present government will not allow the terminals to remain like that,” Sirika said.

He said reports had shown that 40 per cent of passengers preferred to pass through airport terminals with excellent facilities, adding that duty free in Dubai is about $1.2 billion, a situation not obtainable in Nigeria.