The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the appointment of six transaction advisers in May 2017 to work on a set of long-discussed aviation reforms, including a proposed new national carrier, a domestic aircraft leasing company, and the concession of the country's four biggest airports in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt. Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika told reporters after the FEC meeting that every strand of the reform programme would be driven through public-private partnerships rather than direct government funding.
Under the arrangement, Lufthansa Consulting together with TN Aero FGE were engaged to advise on the national carrier project, while Arrow was appointed to handle both the aircraft leasing company and the planned Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility. Infrata Dantens was appointed to advise on the airport concessions, and JEBB was given responsibility for the aerotropolis and agro-cargo terminal components. Sirika said the combined advisory contracts were valued at roughly N1.524 billion.
Part of a Wider Reform Push
The approval came in a year when the ministry was also pursuing a second runway for Abuja's airport, a project the Senate had separately endorsed, partly in response to criticism that the six-week runway closure earlier in the year could have been avoided had a backup runway existed. Officials framed the transaction adviser appointments as the practical first step toward reforms that had been discussed in Nigerian aviation policy circles for years without concrete progress.
A Long Road Still Ahead
Industry observers cautioned that appointing advisers was only the beginning of a process that would likely take years to reach financial close on any of the individual projects, given the complexity of structuring a national carrier and negotiating concession terms with FAAN and the unions representing airport workers. The full impact of the reforms remained to be seen as the advisers began their work later in the year.