Hand over airports to private management, OPS tells government

The organised private sector (OPS) says it is time the Federal Government hands over the nation’s airports to private management, and move quickly to privatise other commercial-oriented institutions that can be better run by the private sector.

It argues that this would stem wastage and restore the confidence of the public in such enterprises.

Nigeria’s airports are among some of the poorly run in the world, with the lighting and cooling systems sometime completely down, leaving passengers and visitors in the darkness. The conveyor belts in some of the nation’s airports have continued to pose a challenge, as they break down often, forcing passengers to spend longer time than necessary waiting for their luggage.

The business community is also advocating the extension of the local content development policy operational in the oil and gas sector to other sectors of the economy, saying it would boost Nigeria’s industrial base at this time the economy is facing oil price crisis, weak naira value and increasing unemployment rate.

Larry Ettah, president, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), who spoke at the 58th annual general meeting of the association attended by business leaders across sectors, said given the current challenges, the government cannot afford anymore to wait to privatise poorly run and managed public enterprises.

“It has been proven all over the world that the best model of development is when government restricts its role to that of an enabler of private sector as an engine of growth,” said Ettah, saying “we may indeed consider the airports as well as for private sector management once appropriate security oversight can be maintained by government. That is the surest way to go.”

According to him, in exploring the extending the local content policy to other sectors, government should ensure that quality and pricing are not compromised. To achieve this, NECA proposed that sectoral dialogue be held between the government and key actors in each sector, “which should produce an actionable blueprint with clear objectives and timeliness for implementation. This policy initiative will not only fast track industrilisation in Nigeria, it will also address the problem of unemployment,” he said.