INDICATIONS have emerged that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) will be partnering with some commercial banks for a proposed bank pavilion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. BusinessWorld Intelligence can disclose that a committee comprising some FAAN officials and the banks’ representatives have been instituted and is already working out the modalities towards the actualisation of this dream.
According to him, a good number of banks have indicated keen interest in the pavilion because the idea is for them to provide the finance for the structure while FAAN provides the land. “The banks will operate on the pavilion for 10 years after which they will begin to pay rent to FAAN,” a source close to the deal said.
The source stressed that this is the kind of Private Public Partnership (PPP) that FAAN should engage in as this will benefit the establishment, instead of the proposed concession of airports which would lead to downsizing of the work force.
He lamented that in concession arrangement; properties sold are either underpaid for or are not paid for at all, but will be hidden from the public knowledge. “On the contrary, investors in PPP arrangement have invested their money and would do anything to safeguard and monitor their investments.
“It is the workers in the ministry of aviation that always clamour for outright concession because they know what they gain from such project,” he said. “In concession, properties are sold to their cronies at am under valued prices.”