Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has acknowledged that public-private partnerships are crucial in the sustainability and modernisation of airport infrastructure. He disclosed that the federal government has secured commitment from several corporate bodies in the private sector that would soon embark on refurbishing the arrival and departure areas of Wing D at Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos State. He also observed that currently there is no infrastructure ministry with the capacity to undertake large-scale projects such as maintaining airports to meet international standards; therefore, a public-private partnership is the most viable option.
“There is no ministry now that is an infrastructure ministry that has the capacity by the envelope system to develop those big projects. The envelope system means the budgeting process because we are always running a deficit budget. “So if we’re running a deficit budget how are we going to ensure that we carry out those big projects? It’s not possible by the budgeting system.
So those infrastructure ministries are FCT, Works, Housing, Blue Economy, Aviation, and maybe one or two others. Those are the infrastructure ministries. “It is only by way of PPPs we can progress along that line, we can turn things around.
So for those who complain that our infrastructure is decrepit, the airports are not as good as they should be, they don’t meet international standards, I�.
